


All The Colors of the Rainbow

by patrician_lurker



Category: RWBY
Genre: All The Ships, Everyone's friends, Fluff, Found Family, Friendship, Humor, Multi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, RWBY and JNPR are found family, Shiptease everywhere, Team as Family, chatfic, prose sections, references to past abuse, the spirit of RWBY Chibi lives on in this fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:40:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 105,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25176280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patrician_lurker/pseuds/patrician_lurker
Summary: Ruby decides it would be a good idea to form the first official Team RWBY + Team JNPR group chat using Beacon's official proprietary chat app, BeaconChat©. Things spiral from there.This will be the day we waited for: a story about how eight strangers (well, six strangers, two sisters, and whatever Ren and Nora are) find bonds that will last a lifetime, find found family, maybe even find love with each other, in between the world-saving missions and the food fights, all through the medium of... group chats?The dream that you've always dreamed is suddenly about to flower.(Group chat + prose sections fic. A series of connected one-shots loosely tied by """plot.""" Friendship fluff, focused on the eight (later, seven) main characters. Rarepair interactions! Canon-compliant! Weird headcanons! Starts between volume 1 and 2 and will proceed from there.)
Relationships: Blake Belladonna & Nora Valkyrie, Blake Belladonna & Ruby Rose & Weiss Schnee & Yang Xiao Long, Jaune Arc & Pyrrha Nikos & Lie Ren & Nora Valkyrie, Jaune Arc & Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc & Weiss Schnee, Jaune Arc & Yang Xiao Long, Lie Ren & Weiss Schnee, Pyrrha Nikos & Blake Belladonna & Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos & Ruby Rose, Pyrrha Nikos & Weiss Schnee, Pyrrha Nikos & Yang Xiao Long, Ruby Rose & Nora Valkyrie, Team JNPR & Team RWBY, Weiss Schnee & Nora Valkyrie, Weiss Schnee & Nora Valkyrie & Lie Ren, Yang Xiao Long & Lie Ren
Comments: 84
Kudos: 62





	1. Volume 1.5 (Monday): Everyone spends too much time on their scrolls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uh, I know I have a fic that’s been dormant for like, 4 years, but let’s hope this one pans out slightly better. No update schedule, just whenever I feel like updating. At least each chapter is designed to be a one-shot, yeah? I’ll also indicate where in the timeline each chapter is located.
> 
> No FNDM wars beyond this point! Only friendship fluff, slight ship teasing, me possibly mangling the lore (please tell me if I get lore wrong because I am determined to be as canon compliant as possible) and my dumb, dumb headcanons! Besides, if you squint, a lot of ships are still sailing. Be warned, however: I like sailing multiple ships at a time…

**Set between volumes 1 and 2**

_Welcome to the beginning of the **Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie** group._

**_Ruby Rose_ ** _started a call._

 **_Ruby Rose_ ** _ended a call._

Ruby Rose: oh jeez

Ruby Rose: misclick

Ruby Rose: ok, the Beacon app is a bit weird to use compared to RINE or InFighting but

Ruby Rose: the scroll-to-scroll connection is _amazing_ , so short-burst communication should be fine even if the CCT is down

Ruby Rose: im also trying to figure out a way to extend the range in case we’re out in the field but

Ruby Rose: prof greene was all _no miss rose we cannot allow you to mess with the cct just so you have better reception atlas will literally start a war with vale_

 _Ruby Rose:_ ooh look at me i teach stealth and security i know IT

_Someone is typing…_

Ruby Rose: wait, why am i the only one talking???

Ruby Rose: guys?

Ruby Rose: guys?

_Someone is typing…_

Ruby Rose: GUYS???

Yang Xiao Long: yo sis, chill.

Yang Xiao Long: you sent all those messages in like _30 seconds_

_Nora Valkyrie has changed her name to **Queen Of The Castle**!_

Queen of the Castle: FINALLY

Queen of the Castle: Man, this interface is a mess. Anyway, HI, RUBY!

Ruby Rose: nora!!! wait, how do you change your name

_Queen of the Castle has changed Ruby Rose’s name to !_

_Queen of the Castle has changed the group’s name to **TEAM RRAYNNBW**_

: uh

: what

: ohhh

: its all our names put together

: wait

: where is my name????

\---0---

It was a good idea, Ruby insisted to nobody in particular, to start a new chat with this BeaconChat app, if only for a clean break from all the Blake drama. After the big mess at the docks, what with foiling Roman Torchwick and the White Fang, Ruby had hoped for a return to normalcy, or at least what passed for normalcy in their little group. Besides, Ren _had_ offhandedly bemoaned at breakfast today that the current JNPR group chat had ballooned with over _a hundred_ unread messages over the last two days, most of which was panicked Jaune and Nora messages informing the rest of the group that, no, Blake _wasn’t_ at library, or at the roof, or that sandwich shop in Vale that sold her favorite tuna sandwiches ( _Blake did like tuna a lot,_ Ruby had mused idly, once upon a time). It also didn’t help that Pyrrha, bless her, was so blessedly… _bad_ with scrolls and chat apps, and would accidentally send photos from her gallery, usually screencaps of the Mistralian cartoons she enjoyed watching when she wasn’t being the hypercompetent athlete that she was. (Ren, Ruby noted, was looking noticeably annoyed as he recounted Pyrrha’s… taste in entertainment.) The end result was a messy, disorganized chat that was half Jaune and Nora being, well, Jaune and Nora and half Pyrrha apologizing for accidentally starting a call or interrupting the current conversation with another screencap.

That had prompted Ruby to evaluate her own team’s group chat, and to her horror, she did _not_ like what she saw there. She had meant for the chat to be their official communications channel for inter-team messages, like that time she informed everyone that she finally a managed to reserve the training room for a session ( _no Yang_ , Ruby insisted, _I didn’t make Jaune fill out the paperwork this time and ask him to submit it for me, I don’t abuse my bestie like that!)_ or when Ruby would call for a team meeting to discuss their cool new team attacks she had brainstormed during Leadership class. It didn’t matter that she would spam all her ideas in the middle of said class, while everyone was doing their own thing, because you didn’t stifle genius! And it wasn’t _her_ fault she and Jaune had an extra hour of Leadership class at the end of the week while everyone got to goof off!

Besides, _Yang_ came up with the Bumblebee name (for her motorcycle, granted) so why was she complaining? It wasn’t a bad team attack name!

In any case, the decision to start the new group chat with team JNPR was prompted by just how… unprofessional their team communications looked. Her first message to the team RWBY chat was this excessively formal, properly worded message that she _thought_ Weiss would have been proud of, but that idea was quickly disabused when Weiss composed a lengthy, _nitpicky_ essay correcting all of Ruby’s mistakes ( _what does felicitations even mean???_ Weiss had screamed in the chat) and Yang was all too eager to egg Weiss on. Blake, thankfully, had no comment, but had seen every single message without fail. Ruby noted that most times she was the first to see her messages – she just never replied unless prompted. And, Ruby admitted, her own messages… weren’t the most _professional_ after that disastrous first attempt…

Another reason Ruby wanted to let go of the old chats was because Weiss had… said some horrible things during the two days Blake was gone. Their app of choice didn’t allow for messages to be deleted, so there was no way to get rid of the things that Weiss had said out of frustration, alternating between pleading at Blake to return and screaming at Blake for bringing them so much trouble ( _on a weekend, no less!_ Weiss fumed). Hell hath no fury like a Schnee scorned, Ruby learned that day. But the reality was while Ruby _sympathized_ with Blake, the cat faunus also _frustrated_ the leader to no end. Yang was panicking, something she rarely did (the last time she remembered Yang actually panicking was when she accidentally caused a Dust explosion in the workshop while tinkering with Crescent Rose, back at Signal), Weiss was fuming, Blake ran away, and the team was on the verge of breaking down as nobody really wanted to talk about the entire mess. Ruby wanted to tear her hair out with how _frustrating_ it was, being unable to talk things out with anyone, but she had to remind herself that her team came first, and she couldn’t afford to be petulant about this. Weiss, for all her iciness, was simply able to express her frustration at the whole situation in a way that she couldn’t.

Even after the docks incident was resolved, Ruby knew everyone still had some level of resentment for Blake did, even after they had talked it out and apologized as a team. Ruby understood that – at some point, they just had to accept that mistakes was made and hope that time would be able to heal this wound. The problem was that the chat logs were an ever-present reminder of that, and Ruby just wanted _a fresh start_. She didn’t need something that picked away at the scabs of the wound, or letting said wounds fester and rot as they danced around the point of infection.

As for JNPR? Well, they _were_ dragged into the mess, even if they weren’t present at the docks. Ruby initially didn’t want to involve them in the search, believing that this was RWBY’s problem, but Jaune just had a way of getting you to trust him, even if he looked unreliable in combat and was a complete klutz in everyday life. But as soon as he figured out at dinner the day Blake fled that Ruby was close to having a breakdown, he had called a team meeting in their dorms and dragged Ruby in with the promise of strawberries filched from the cafeteria ( _seven sisters, remember?_ Jaune would say, with that roguish grin of his that implied this wasn’t the first time he had lured in a little girl who was having relationship problems… which, now that Ruby thought out loud, made Jaune look bad).

Once they had settled in team JNPR’s dorm rooms (much more organized and well-kept compared to their dorm rooms, Ruby mused), Pyrrha, ever the doting mother, sat Ruby on her bed and held Ruby in her arms, stroking her head as she vented her frustrations over her team seemingly falling apart and just how _selfish_ Blake was for running away, because they were a team, weren’t they? Nora, in one of those rare moments where she willingly showed off her more sensitive side, sat next to Ruby and held her hand and rubbed her back with a circular motion, a trick Nora claimed Ren would use when they were kids to calm her down during stormy nights, when the lightning and the thunder proved too much even for her. Ren returned from the common room, having prepared Ruby some tea from his private stash, leaves he claimed he grew himself, useful for when he wanted to balance himself, whatever that meant. Jaune just leaned against the window, arms crossed, watching the scene like he wasn’t involved in the entire thing, before finally offering the services of team JNPR to the cause. His team, ever loyal to him, agreed immediately.

(Much, much later, Ruby realized how jealous she was of how the team seemed to so easily gel, although Jaune would remind her of their own little crisis earlier in the semester, and how she had helped. Jaune figured he was just returning the favor. But that was a story for another time.)

That was probably the best thing to happen for team RWBY, because the sheer efficiency of team JNPR’s search and locate tactics far outshone her team’s. Jaune, apparently, was a _master_ of hide and seek ( _seven sisters! seven!_ ) and was fond of doing practice drills based on seeking out stray cats on campus for Nora to pet. (They were also fond of campus-wide games of tag, but that was neither here nor there.) Ren knew all the ideal locations for people to hide at Beacon, having spent a few nights mapping out the place for… ahem, _reconnaissance_. Nora… had enough energy to just interrogate everyone if they had seen the quiet book-loving girl with the comically oversized bow on her head. And Pyrrha? Part of the perks of being _the best student in the year_ was that teachers trusted her more than most, a fact that she took advantage of to gain access to the CCT video logs in the teacher’s lounge (because _of course_ she was allowed in, Glynda Goodwitch was fond of her). Sure, Jaune had to sheepishly suggest it to her, and she was horrified at the idea of it, but Jaune, again, had a way of getting people to agree with his less-than-legal methods.

(Every now and then, Ruby would worry about Jaune’s tendency towards criminal acts, what with all the barely legal things he pulled during the Search for Blake, as well as… later revelations. Again, a story for another time.)

Their exhaustive search was what pushed team RWBY to search Vale, with team JNPR offering to assist, seeing as they _were_ under house arrest due to the whole Blake fleeing the school thing. Ruby had declined the offer, believing it was their responsibility, but that timely distraction by Nora in the cafeteria convinced her otherwise, plus with Jaune, Ren, and Pyrrha, they _could_ cover more ground in Vale...

Another silver lining in this whole mess was that team JNPR proved fantastic as student therapists and soundboards. During their excursion to Vale, Pyrrha and Jaune apparently ran into Weiss when RWBY split and had managed to calm Weiss down enough to stop being _angry_ at Blake, even if, Ruby suspected, much of it was Jaune intentionally annoying Weiss with his cheesy one-liners while Pyrrha giggled at his corny lines like she wasn’t the Goddess of Victory. Eventually, the two-man act broke Weiss’ guard down and got Weiss to share her version of the story, leaving out Blake’s faunus identity since that was her secret to tell. Instead, Weiss had shared her own insecurities about people seeing her only as the Schnee heiress, and how Blake had unintentionally set her off because she felt _Blake judged her just like the rest._

(Weiss _thought_ she was being subtle about the whole White Fang thing and how Blake and her disagreed about it, but Pyrrha had privately confided to Ruby, much, much later, the knowing looks Jaune and her shared when Weiss started talking about the dust robberies against the SDC. Ruby also didn’t miss Pyrrha’s sympathetic, knowing look as she recounted Weiss’ loneliness or the way Jaune’s eyes shone in soft, gentle affection at recalling Weiss’ rarely-seen vulnerable side. Ruby recognized it – Yang often had the same look for her, especially when they were younger and only had each other to lean on, emotionally. )

Ren, meanwhile, had gotten to Yang, who had left Weiss to stew in her own anger and frustration and was wandering the streets of Vale aimlessly. Ren claimed it was his semblance, which dampened people’s emotions, but Ruby noted the way Ren would favor his left side, as if he didn’t want to apply pressure on his right leg. And while Ruby didn’t judge men who used make-up, she was pretty sure Ren was using _Nora’s_ stuff ( _shouldn’t Aura fix that?_ Ruby asked herself, before recalling, _right, Yang_ ).

It was the little things, the subtle assistance their sister team had rendered unto team RWBY, that convinced Ruby this entire thing was a good idea. When she consulted Yang and Weiss about confessing to team JNPR about their circumstances, both agreed that it was the least they could do considering all they had done for them for the last two days. Weiss even went one step further and suggested a sleepover, something that filled Ruby with hope for the Ice Queen hopefully thawing out a little. Weiss also convinced Blake that it was a good idea to reveal her secret to their sister team, explaining her own encounter with the blonde noodle and his invincible partner. If they were done keeping secrets from each other, Weiss had argued, then their sister team deserved the same respect. Ruby almost swooned at the show of respect Weiss displayed towards team JNPR.

Blake, after hearing Weiss’ story, agreed as well, noting that Pyrrha and Jaune had also been frantically messaging her during the two days she had disappeared, a revelation that shocked Yang ( _you’re friends with Vomit Boy and Cereal Girl??_ Yang had exclaimed, to which Blake, annoyed, shot back that, contrary to her expectations, she was perfectly capable of talking to other people). Truthfully, Blake admitted, what made her realize how dumb she was being was the worry that everyone else had shown when she disappeared, from the messages in their personal group chat, to the frantic messages Pyrrha had left in their… _private_ … chat and Jaune’s clumsy attempts to trick Blake into revealing where she was ( _he isn’t that subtle, even if he’s crafty_ , Blake huffed). She appreciated their concern, but even more than that, appreciated that they were giving her space – once they cottoned on that Blake wasn’t interested in talking just yet, the two had backed off. A lesson she wished a certain monkey faunus was around to learn. Seriously, who spent two days hanging around someone who _refused to talk_?

(Much, much later, Blake would admit that she was being hard on Sun, but that was probably the moment she decided that she wasn’t romantically interested in stubborn people who wouldn’t take no for an answer and wouldn’t give her space to herself. Too many bad memories in the past.

Sun was still a good friend, though. That much she would give him.)

The official decision to form the chat came after they had been assigned their punishment. After both teams were reprimanded by Deputy Headmistress Goodwitch, RWBY for, well, _the docks thing_ , and JNPR for the accidental fight Nora started in the cafeteria, suspiciously around the same time the rest of team RWBY snuck out to Vale to look for Blake, the two teams were told they would be spending a week in detention, which was code for unpaid labor for the teachers. That meant that the two teams, who had spent a fair amount of time doing things together anyway, would be doing a lot of cleaning messy cafeterias, acting as unofficial teaching assistants, helping out with Ozpin’s (Glynda’s) paperwork, and everything else under the sun. Ruby and Jaune were meant to be the liaisons between the teaching staff and the teams, and they had decided, for expediency, to consolidate all communications into one chat. And, well, if they used the chat to vent about how _unfair_ their teachers were being, there was no harm done, right?

Right?

\---0---

 _Welcome to **TEAM RRAYNNBW**_ **!**

Jaune Arc: sorry abt that, didnt realize goodwitch noticed we were slacking off.

Pyrrha Nikos: Is that why she split us up into groups? I’m not sure about the logic of making me do paperwork with Weiss and Blake, honestly…

Pyrrha Nikos: No offense, you two.

Blake Belladonna: none taken pyr

Yang Xiao Long: still weird to find out u n cereal girl are good friends

Blake Belladonna: why, you jelly? 😊

Lie Ren: **Pyrhha Nikos** She DID complain that everyone spends too much time on their scrolls chatting, instead of talking to each other.

Queen of the Castle: What an old person thing to say. Get with the program, grandma! **Jaune Arc** Glynda’s a grandma, right?

Jaune Arc: :shrug:

Yang Xiao Long: ok how

Yang Xiao Long: juane how tf do u change names??? or use d emojis??? nora wouldnt teach me

Jaune Arc: yang I am _literally_ 5 ft away from you we can talk in person

Jaune Arc: just as soon as this stupid bush cooperates w me

Yang Xiao Long: today i learned jaune is good at trimming bushes

Weiss Schnee: Yang, that’s _gross_.

Yang Xiao Long: whats gross is nora not showin me how to change names on this stupid app

Queen of the Castle: You’re just jealous I’m better at technology at you.

Yang Xiao Long: shut it! and whats w the proper typing and grammer n stuff

Weiss Schnee: _Grammar_.

Yang Xiao Long: shut it ice queen im too mad to type properly

_Someone is typing…_

: !

: !!!

: hbvjhsdbfewnrvqb3rufbwerfq

Jaune Arc: ruby stop typing in your scroll and get back to fixing the bots

Jaune Arc: we don’t want prof goodwitch to take our scrolls away

Jaune Arc: or remove our beacon app privileges

_Someone is typing…_

Lie Ren: Guys,

Lie Ren: Ruby won’t stop bugging Nora about the name thing and I can tell Nora’s about to do something either monumentally stupid or monumentally stressful. Or both.

Lie Ren: And now Ruby is chasing Nora with her semblance.

_Lie Ren uploaded a photo to the chat!_

Weiss Schnee: Oh my _Brothers_ please don’t make us clean up all those petals. Ren, _please_ reign in those two!

Yang Xiao Long: chill ice queen the petals disappear after a while

_Pyrrha Nikos uploaded a photo to the chat!_

_Pyrrha Nikos uploaded a photo to the chat!_

_Pyrrha Nikos uploaded a photo to the chat!_

Yang Xiao Long: wot

Yang Xiao Long: didnt know u were into cartoons cereal girl

Lie Ren: Dust-damned meebs…

Pyrrha Nikos: I’m sorry! Misclick!

Blake Belladonna: nice screencaps **Pyrrha Nikos** ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) rei is best girl doe

Lie Ren: Your obsession with lowbrow Mistralian cartoons _disgust me_.

: stop chatting ren n HELP ME CATCH NORA

_Queen of the Castle changed Ruby Rose’s name to **StrawberrySlowCake!**_

Queen of the Castle: You’re too slow!

StrawberrySlowCake: _noraaaaa_

Jaune Arc: guys

Jaune Arc: we need to focus

_Jaune Arc has changed StrawberrySlowCake’s name to **RedLikeStrawberries!**_

Jaune Arc: gna mute and keep nora from doing stuff here for a bit as well

_Queen of the Castle is muted for twenty-four hours!_

RedLikeStrawberries: ha! revenge is sweet

Jaune Arc: look, i’ll show everyone how to mess around with the settings later, let’s just finish our stuff before prof goodwitch gets mad

Yang Xiao Long: how the fuck did u do that to nora??

Jaune Arc: me n ruby r admins

Jaune Arc: also, language, ruby is here

RedLikeStrawberries: hey!

Yang Xiao Long: yeah yeah but since when are you… knowledgeable abt this stuff?? ur vomit boy!!! u cant be competent!!!

Yang Xiao Long: no offense VB :P

RedLikeStrawberries: jaune was the one who told me to try out the beacon chat app

RedLikeStrawberries: apparently he knows the people who made it

Jaune Arc: _i am literally looking at you as you type Yang why are you askin in chat_

RedLikeStrawberries: jaune’s sister Sapphron has this gf who’s, like, this scroll whiz iirc

Pyrrha Nikos: Wow, I’ve never heard about this before, **Jaune Arc**. How does Ruby know?

RedLikeStrawberries: :shrug: we talk abt stuff. we’re besties!

RedLikeStrawberries: don’t worry **Weiss Schnee** ur my bff thats totally different

Blake Belladonna: i have to admit, this story sounds interesting.

Yang Xiao Long: _blake belladonna why have you never shown this level of interest in anything we’ve talked about before_

Blake Belladonna: I pay attention! just bc i don’t say anything doesnt mean i ignore you guys! i just like staying in the background and taking notes!

Lie Ren: You realize you sounded like a stalker there, right?

Lie Ren: Oh, and Nora knocked herself out. Be right back.

Yang Xiao Long: blake we will have a long talk abt all the stuff you havent mentioned to us when you get back

Jaune Arc: guys

Jaune Arc: guys

Jaune Arc: fine ill tell you all a story

Pyrrha Nikos: Please do.

Weiss Schnee: **Pyrrha Nikos** we still have work to do!

Jaune Arc: ahem

Jaune Arc: so saph’s gf, now wife, her name’s terra

Jaune Arc: real comms genius, she and her friends designed this app with some friends back when they were teens and sold the rights to beacon apparently.

Jaune Arc: when sapphron and terra first met terra designed some neat apps for their scrolls to talk secretly. i only discovered em by accident and saph swore me to secrecy, then she’d drag me to dates with terra to third wheel so our parents wouldnt suspect anything. terra taught me some stuff too. she took all that experience and turned it into BeaconChat. terra even made me test some features.

RedLikeStrawberries: because, and i quote, “we need to idiot proof this”

Jaune Arc: and me idiot-proofing for her is why i was the only witness when they got married and eloped to Argus

Blake Belladonna: the more I learn about you the more your everything makes sense ㅇㅅㅇ

Jaune Arc: the heck does that mean????

Pyrrha Nikos: Don’t be mean, Blake! Oh, and would you kindly pass me that stack of papers?

RedLikeStrawberries: ok storytime is over, me ren n nora almost done here. we’re heading back to the dorms.

Yang Xiao Long: me and VB were done like 5 mins ago. im makin him teach me this dumb app.

Yang Xiao Long: also arent you forgetting sth

RedLikeStrawberries: o right! don’t forget we’re doing the sleepover tonight! **Everyone** we convene in one hour at team RWBY’s dorm! Don’t be late! Don’t forget the food assigned to you!

Weiss Schnee: I’ll clean our room then.

_Yang Xiao Long has changed her name to **SunnyLittleDragon!**_

SunnyLittleDragon: frikkin finally! thanks **Jaune Arc**

Jaune Arc: _yang i swear to the brothers we are literally face to face right now_

_SunnyLittleDragon has changed Jaune Arc’s name to **Vomit Boy!**_

_SunnyLittleDragon has changed Weiss Schnee’s name to **Snow Angel!**_

Snow Angel: hey!

_SunnyLittleDragon has changed Blake Belladonna’s name to **Big Kitty Goth GF!**_

Big Kitty Goth GF: srsly, yang?

SunnyLittleDragon: eh, we’re telling em anyway, right?

Big Kitty Goth GF: yeah, but

Big Kitty Goth GF: nvm orz do what u want im done here anw. ozpin’s paperwork is messy af

Snow Angel: I’m done as well. Thankfully, Professor Goodwitch is _much_ more organized. See you all later?

Big Kitty Goth GF: you are literally _in front of me_ Weiss [edited]

Big Kitty Goth GF: oh nice, you can edit messages here.

_SunnyLittleDragon has changed Pyrrha Nikos’ name to **Cereal Girl!**_

Cereal Girl: oh?

Cereal Girl: I have to admit, having a conversation on our scrolls while also talking in person and finishing paperwork is a very… novel experience.

SunnyLittleDragon: you get amused by the weirdest things p-money

Cereal Girl: I’m… afraid I don’t understand the name…

_Queen of the Castle is now unmuted!_

RedLikeStrawberries: nora how the FUCK

SunnyLittleDragon: LANGUAGE!

RedLikeStrawberries: YOU WERE SWEARING EARLIER TOO YANG

RedLikeStrawberries: YOU ARENT MY MOM

SunnyLittleDragon: I MAY AS WELL BE

Queen of the Castle: I’M FREE! FREE!

\---0---

Okay, so the chat idea immediately derailed itself, Ruby conceded. Plans, unfortunately, never survived first contact with the enemy. What was meant to be official comms and _maybe_ an excuse for everyone to just chat had turned into a chaotic mess, which was fine, Ruby felt. With their schedules and their lifestyles, it was hard finding time to just sit down and _talk_. Glynda certainly grouched about how they spent so much time on their scrolls, but without it, Ruby doubted they’d even be having their conversations or properly plan out their sleepover, aka Blake’s Coming Out Party (not that kind of Coming Out, although based on Blake’s taste in…filth… that she had a lot of explaining to do about her literary preferences. _Not that there was anything wrong with that!_ )

In any case, Ruby thought, they had a sleepover to get ready for. Why did it take so long for an hour to pass…

\---0---

RedLikeStrawberries: **Vomit Boy** where are you guys???

Cereal Girl: hang on we’re getting the snacks, plus me n ren cooked some stuff -Jaune

Cereal Girl: I’m sorry… Nora did something to Jaune’s scroll, I panicked a bit, and, well…

Big Kitty Goth GF: i thought you had mastered your semblance already?

Cereal Girl: In combat, yes, but, well, Nora had Jaune’s scroll, Jaune had his arms wrapped Nora’s, um,

Lie Ren: Needless to say, it was a bit… chaotic.

Lie Ren: Thank you for watching over Nora, by the by.

Snow Angel: Will she… will she be okay like this?

\---0---

In a corner of team RWBY’s dorm room, Ruby observed, Nora Valkyrie was curled up on the floor, grumbling to herself.

\---0---

Cereal Girl: She will be fine.

Lie Ren: The threat of no breakfast is a dangerous ploy, one Jaune and I rarely use.

Cereal Girl: Please don’t worry, **Snow Angel**. She just has… pent-up energy?

Lie Ren: Detention is making her cranky. She’s been wanting to do some weapon tests with Magnhild.

Big Kitty Goth GF: I

Big Kitty Goth GF: im sorry ren

Big Kitty Goth GF: its my fault

\---0---

Ruby glanced at Blake, who was sitting on her bed, arms wrapped around her knees as she huddled to herself and tried to make herself as small as possible.

\---0---

Cereal Girl: It’s fine, Blake.

Cereal Girl: We’re your friends.

Cereal Girl: Besides, we still haven’t finished writing the fic

Big Kitty Goth GF: PYRRHA

SunnyLittleDragon: fic?

Lie Ren: Meebs, I swear…

SunnyLittleDragon: the heck’s a meeb

\---0---

That got Blake to laugh. Ruby, noticing Blake shift her posture to something more comfortable, sighed in relief. Maybe the Coming Out Party would turn out alright, after all.

Well, the serious stuff could wait, since Jaune had brought the snacks and now Nora was screaming like some noise-based Grimm, excited because Ren also cooked her pancakes and–

\---0---

 _RedLikeStrawberries has changed the group’s name to **Team RRAYNNBW (Keeping Quiet Edition)**_!

Snow Angel: So _why_ exactly are we chatting instead of, you know, _talking in person?_ Can’t we just moderate our voices?

RedLikeStrawberries: to spite goodwitch, duh

SunnyLittleDragon: yeah, snow angel, get w the program

Snow Angel: _dont call me that_

Lie Ren: Ladies.

Cereal Girl: The point of using our scrolls is to talk instead of, um, making too much noise and shouting over each other, especially considering the noise complaints we have already received.

RedLikeStrawberries: Plus, we were already warned by Goodwitch.

Lie Ren: It was a very harrowing experience, seeing Ms. Goodwitch levitate your beds to get our attention and interrogate us.

Lie Ren: How exactly _do_ they remain stable? She asks _very_ insightful questions.

Snow Angel: That doesn’t matter right now!

Snow Angel: Jaune, please pass me the chips.

SunnyLittleDragon: wait, ms? goodwitch is single???

RedLikeStrawberries: :gasp: weiss is eating chips???

Snow Angel: Why is that weird? What do you think I eat?

RedLikeStrawberries: i dunno, fish eggs or sth

Cereal Girl: Yang, why are you so surprised?

SunnyLittleDragon: but… shes so… no way in hell someone as hot as her doesn’t have a partner…

Snow Angel: There were rumors that General Ironwood and her were an item once, but…

Snow Angel: JAUNE NOT THESE CHIPS

Snow Angel: ALSO USE YOUR DUST-DAMNED SCROLL INSTEAD OF LEANING OVER PYRRHA’S SHOULDER TO CHECK HERS

Snow Angel: ALSO ALSO STOP WHISPERING TO EACH OTHER LIKE CHILDREN

Snow Angel: YES I KNOW IM SHAKING YES I KNOW YOUR SCROLL IS MALFUNCTIONING

Snow Angel: STOP

Snow Angel: GIGGLING

\---0---

Was it really a surprise, Ruby wondered, when Blake and Yang threw their pillows at Yang?

\---0---

SunnyLittleDragon: anw. general who?

Big Kitty Goth GF: Atlas Academy Headmaster.

Snow Angel: How do _you_ know that?

Big Kitty Goth GF: it isnt exactly a big secret if you know to look up stuff online

Snow Angel: In any case, I wouldn’t believe the rumors. My sister tells me that General Ironwood and Professor Goodwitch are both too focused on, in her words, dealing with unruly children.

SunnyLittleDragon: fjfnewjfnewnfhrnf

SunnyLittleDragon: sadfdafdsasad

SunnyLittleDragon: _I have peered into my future, and the sheer terror will drive me to the bottle_.

RedLikeStrawberries: YANG

RedLikeStrawberries: stop hyperventilating

RedLikeStrawberries: just bc your worried you’ll turn out like goodwitch doesn’t give you the right to scream into your pillow

Lie Ren: Will she be…

RedLikeStrawberries: oh

RedLikeStrawberries: she’ll be fine

Lie Ren: She’s crying.

RedLikeStrawberries: she’s just insecure bc she doesn’t really have a love life

Big Kitty Goth GF: …really? Yang’s single?

RedLikeStrawberries: and ready to mingle if her dating profile on a certain website is to be trusted

SunnyLittleDragon: RUBY

SunnyLittleDragon: also whats the matter blakey, interested? 😉

\---0---

Ruby glanced at Weiss, who rolled her eyes as they observed Yang’s incredibly, incredibly awkward winking and Blake’s equally awkward smile as she brushed the hair behind her ears.

\---0---

Vomit Boy: guys i think we’re getting sidetracked

Snow Angel: at least you finally fixed your scroll

Vomit Boy: sorry

Vomit Boy: still not sure how nora shorted it out

Vomit Boy: could have sworn she didn’t have lightning dust on her

Lie Ren: It is incredibly difficult to keep Nora pacified while also typing on my scroll, so I must ask you all to tell us why you called for this meeting already.

RedLikeStrawberries: oh right

RedLikeStrawberries: ok

RedLikeStrawberries: so

RedLikeStrawberries: this is a long story

RedLikeStrawberries: promise not to freak out or make too much noise

Cereal Girl: We’re all ears, Ruby.

\---0---

Ruby let out a huge sigh before glancing at her teammates and friends, who had settled into their pajamas (Yang, as always, was outraged by Jaune’s onesie and entranced by Blake’s yukata. Ruby never minded the onesie, and privately thought it cute, almost as cute as Blake’s sleepwear) and laid out all the snacks on the floor between the two bunk beds.

Ren and Nora took up positions by the window and the bookshelves. Ren leaned back against the shelves, careful not to disturb any of Blake’s… literature or Weiss’ textbooks. Nora snuggled next to Ren, all but forcing Ren’s left arm around her shoulders so she could nuzzle her head against Ren’s chin and touch his nose with her fingers, a soft _boop_ escaping her lips. If Ren wanted to escape, Ruby mused, he wasn’t exactly doing a good job resisting Nora’s grappling techniques. Instead, he was typing something on his scroll.

Pyrrha and Jaune had their backs against the door, and were sat opposite Ren and Nora, between the two bunk beds. Weiss now sat next to them on the floor, having dropped down from her bed. Ruby noted, with a not inconsiderable amount of glee, that Weiss was leaning over, on her knees, trying to get the chips she wanted, but the two _giants_ next to her were making it difficult to reach the chips on Jaune’s side. Weiss had to squeeze past the partners, as Jaune was too busy teaching Pyrrha how to use her scroll and the BeaconChat app.

Yang, having recovered from her embarrassment, was now lying prone on the top bunk of her and Blake’s bed, looking down on everyone with a pensive look on her face. Blake, meanwhile, sat gingerly on the bottom bed, her hands on her lap, waiting for the right time to talk. Her bow twitched, slightly (another thing that Ruby probably should have noticed earlier). Yang, noticing her hesitation, peered down from her bed before repositioning herself. Her upper body was now hanging from her bed, and she was bent over to rub Blake’s shoulders. (Ruby did her best not to pay attention to the way Jaune, Weiss, Nora _and_ Pyrrha flushed at Yang’s rather provocative display from their vantage point. At least Ren could keep up a poker face. Stupid Yang probably didn’t even realize what she was showing off.)

Ruby felt a curious warmth, akin to the feeling of her Aura being unlocked, bubble up inside her as she observed how, with their positioning on the beds and the floor, team RWBY and JNPR could, if they wanted, reach out and hold each other’s hands to form a closed circle. It was a curious sensation, and she felt a powerful burst of heat and warmth envelop her body as she looked upon her teammates (and friends, a part of her whispered, proudly). And to think that _Yang_ was worried she wasn’t going to make any friends in Beacon!

Well, things were quieter now, Ruby realized, shaking herself from her reverie. Glynda was _probably_ back to her own quarters now, and Ruby hoped the other people on their floor finally returned to their beds after the chaotic mass of screaming that was team RWBY’s dorm a few minutes ago. Satisfied that everyone was now ready, she nodded to Weiss and Blake. Ruby let out a small grin as she watched Blake’s face tighten with determination, while Weiss, doing her best to maintain her composure, while struggling to secure her chips, let out a small sigh. (She also noted the comforting looks Pyrrha and Jaune sent her way, but they weren’t important now. Perhaps for another story.)

Weiss, as always, was the first to break the ice.

“Are you familiar with the White Fang?”

And then their scrolls rang out with notifications.

\---0---

Lie Ren: I just realized.

Lie Ren: I never did get a nickname in this chat.

_Queen of the Castle changed Lie Ren’s name to **Party Pooper!**_

Queen of the Castle: That’s what you are, Ren!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as per tradition for me, a long-ass author’s note for the first chapter:
> 
> This fic is kind of an experiment. The concept I had for this was simple: a series of group chats featuring the main cast of characters, keeping closely with canon while filling in the gaps in time between volumes and episodes, focused primarily in silly interactions and antics between the main eight. This doesn’t mean that other members of the cast won't be involved, but there will be at least one or two people from team RWBY + JNPR involved in each ‘skit’.
> 
> Group chat fics aren’t exactly new or original, but my idea was that all (well, most) dialogue would be conducted in the chats themselves, and the prose bits in between chat sections would focus on one character’s perspective at a time as well as offer transitions from one conversation to another. There’s going to be a lot of implied dialogue during prose sections, as well as conversations happening off-screen during chat sections, as well as many instances where people are chatting while in the same room or in close vicinity, because I like imagining these dumb teenagers sitting on a room, all huddled around their scrolls, laughing at some in-joke while, say, Qrow and Maria look at them confused about why they aren’t talking to each other. That’s why I wrote the first chapter in this way, to really emphasize how the dynamic will work, and future chapters will vary widely in how often prose sections would appear vis-à-vis chat sections. Also, other chapters will feature multiple different group chats, as friendships form and common interests are found.
> 
> Each chapter is designed to be standalone, but will flow into each other, and there will be constant references to previous as well as future chapters. I do intend to take the group chat concept to later volumes, and in the outlines I have for the story I have chunks of the stories plotted to be set around volumes 1-3, volume 5-6, and volume 7 during the Atlas montage. Yes, this means Pyrrha will die, as per canon. Yes, it will be addressed. Yes, I will do my best to still do lighthearted and fluffy friendship interactions even as we reach the later volumes. And yes, they will form a new group chat once the two teams reunite at the end of Volume 5. Fs in the chat for Pyrrha.
> 
> So sit back, relax, and enjoy my dumb, dumb headcanons about these characters and how they interact with each other. Like next chapter, which is Pyrrha and Blake focused and will feature erotic fanfic, Mistralian cartoons, the Remnant equivalent of weebs (meebs), and Pyrrha mistakenly(?) believing that Blake’s type is blonde, dumb, and loyal to a fault.


	2. Volume 1.5 (Tuesday): we live in a society where harem fanfics are more tolerable than tentacle porn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uh, the timeline of events in RWBY make sense in broad strokes but falls apart if you try to apply real-world academic calendars and whatnot (when I first drafted the outline for this, I was working off the assumption that Beacon is basically running on Japanese High School Anime rules, but that would mean they only spent like 5-6 months actually studying there, which is just so hilariously sad) so while I’m sticking as canon as close as possible, I’m fudging dates, months, and the timeline of events. 
> 
> What I’m saying is, don’t be like me and think too hard about the timeline. For the record, I just view the timeline as volume 1: first semester, volume 2 and 3: second semester, volume 4 and 5: first semester of a hypothetical second year for our crew up to the semester break, and volume 6 onwards is the start of the second semester. I know that won’t make sense for a lot of readers, whose first semester is usually set around Fall season, but them’s the brakes. The more observant readers will also notice that this means I’m pretty much making the Fall of Beacon happen near the time of Ruby’s birthday. Yes, she celebrates her birthday while in her silver-eyes induced coma. Because I am a cruel writer.
> 
> Imagine that there’s a month between the end of volume 1 and 2, just so I have space to do the stories I want to tell. Also fudged some stuff about Sun’s arrival to Vale just to make things easier for myself. I’m leaving lots of spaces in between volumes because I want to cram as many little interactions I can before show plot kicks in. Expect lots of Pyrrha appearances because, well…

**This chapter is set between Volumes 1 and 2, a day after the previous chapter**

_Welcome to the beginning of the **Blake Belladonna**_ and **_Pyrrha Nikos_** _group!_

_Blake Belladonna has changed the group’s name to **Aura and Semblance Group Report!**_

_Blake Belladonna uploaded 5 files to the chat!_

_world_building.txt_

_rough_outline_for_real_this_time.txt_

_chapters1-10.txt_

_cover_art.png_

_character_sketches.png_

Blake Belladonna: that should be everything. we’ve migrated all the files from the old chat.

 **_Pyrhha Nikos_ ** _started a call._

 **_Blake Belladonna_ ** _joined the call._

 **_Pyrhha Nikos_ ** _ended a call._

Pyrrha Nikos: I’m sorry!

_Blake Belladonna has changed Pyrhha Nikos’ name to **Achilles ♥ Jeanne**_

_Pyrhha Nikos uploaded a video to the chat!_

_Blake Belladonna has changed her name to **Tiger & Dragon**_

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: Should we really be using our pen names here, Blake?

Tiger & Dragon: meh

Tiger & Dragon: thats why thats our chat name

Tiger & Dragon: so nobody suspects a thing

Tiger & Dragon: love the wet hair look btw

Tiger & Dragon: not so much the 5 second video of you fumbling around with the scroll

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: I can’t help it!

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: These Valean scrolls are just so strange to me. I just don’t understand the interface at all! They’re not very user-friendly, in my opinion.

Tiger & Dragon: ur not just used to it pyr

Tiger & Dragon: besides isn’t jaune teaching you stuff

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: Yes, and bless him.

_Someone is typing…_

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: Apologies. Nora and Jaune’s game is proving very heated. Ren’s still in the bathroom, so I am the only one who can mediate. I’m not sure how they have the energy, considering all the extra work we did for detention today.

_Someone is typing…_

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: Apologies again. Jaune and Nora started chatting about… content creators? Just now, Jaune told me that I should consider recording instructional training videos and upload it to DusTube. I will have many… subscribers? Clicks? Nora wants in, apparently. I’m not sure what the point of it is, honestly.

Tiger & Dragon: sounds good

Tiger & Dragon: your training w jaune is paying off

Tiger & Dragon: you’d make a good DusTuber

Tiger & Dragon: go record stuff w your scroll

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: Unfortunately, I have always been… bad with technology.

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: I’ve never interacted well with machines, I suppose. If I’m not careful, I might accidentally rip machinery apart with my semblance.

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: I shudder to think of what could happen if I encounter those Atlesian models they’re supposedly bringing for the festival.

Tiger & Dragon: dont be so dramatic pyr, those things are tougher than they look

Tiger & Dragon: ive destroyed my fair share of em

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: What?

Tiger & Dragon: what?

\---0---

It was the revelation of Jaune being untrustworthy when it came to official documents that convinced Blake that, yes, revealing her own secret wasn’t a mistake. The small circle they had formed in Team RWBY’s dorm room had fallen quiet when she admitted that she was formerly affiliated with a terrorist organization, and Blake didn’t miss Weiss’ uneasy looks at her. Oh, Weiss knew already, she understood _intellectually_ that Blake wasn’t a bad person, but Blake knew better than anyone that you didn’t just get rid of habits, lessons carefully developed through years of indoctrination, in one simple conversation. No, habits were _formed_ , and unforming them took time. She didn’t miss the look of recognition on Ren’s face either, no doubt from his and Nora’s own experiences as orphans from Mistral. Blake didn’t think they _hated_ the faunus, but they would have heard of the things the White Fang had done in the pursuit of equality, since the White Fang did a lot of work in the Kingdom of Mistral.

That Jaune had timed it perfectly when the awkwardness of Blake’s own secret had settled in was not lost to her ( _he’s crafty, but he isn’t subtle at all_ ) and she didn’t miss Pyrhha’s look of concern when Weiss and Yang screamed in unison ( _You what?!)_ at Jaune’s revelation. Leave it to the _dog_ to try and upstage the cat, Blake mused. By then, Nora and Ren recovered from the shock of Blake’s reveal and began bigging up _their_ Fearless Leader, how Jaune progressed so quickly from the bumbling idiot who didn’t even know what Aura was–

Wait, _what?!_

Well, _that_ was another surprise, but in retrospect, it shouldn’t have. Perhaps it was the ease in which the team accepted Jaune’s criminal acts, or Pyrrha’s willingness to subvert the point of initiation by choosing her partner for herself, or Nora’s willingness to break legs at the drop of a hat while Ren only weakly admonished her for doing so, but Team JNPR looked after its own, even if their own was reckless and did stupid things like join one of the most prestigious combat schools in Remnant with little to no knowledge and armed with only a family heirloom and a burning to desire to do what was right. (And some selfish, dumb notions about heroism, but could she really talk, when she had joined the White Fang with nothing but a burning sense of idealism that had deteriorated into violence?) Theirs was a bond united by shared secrets, both the spoken and unspoken, as well as a willingness to bend the rules to achieve what they felt was right.

Blake blinked, realizing just how _much_ she felt she understood team JNPR at that very moment. She supposed that spending all that time with Pyrrha (and Jaune, although most of that was watching him get beaten up by Pyrrha and the occasional small talk when his body was recovering) led to all this meditation. It wasn’t a bad feeling, Blake thought.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Aura and Semblance Group Report!**_

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: In any case… I’m sorry if we accidentally upstaged your little, er “Coming Out” party.

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: I’m not sure if it’s proper to phrase it like that, honestly…

Tiger & Dragon: its ok

Tiger & Dragon: just glad you all took it well

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: Still, Jaune feels bad because he was worried you’d think he was trying to equate his actions with yours.

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: He looks up to you, you know. He thinks you’re so brave for coming forward with all this. That you had a goal that was worthy. Far more noble than his, anyway. Or so he says.

_Someone is typing…_

Tiger & Dragon: sorry i kept it a secret

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: That’s quite alright.

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: Everyone has secrets they wish to keep.

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: And sometimes, people need the space to process things on their own.

Tiger & Dragon: thanks

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: Oh, don’t thank me. Our Fearless Leader taught me that lesson. It kind of made me realize how meddlesome I could be at times.

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: Besides, if it wasn’t for him being, well, secretive, we wouldn’t have had the chance to interact like this, I don’t think.

Tiger & Dragon: i think so too

Tiger & Dragon: altho now Yang’s going to tease him mercilessly for weeks

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: That’s fine.

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: Jaune is, unfortunately, used to dealing with the teasing. Seven sisters, remember? He’s learned not to let someone like Yang get to him.

\---0---

Yang, being, well, Yang, definitely didn’t get to Blake. No, sir. Not even when Yang was shocked that Blake was capable of having a casual conversation in their group chat with members of their _sister team_. ( _Stupid Yang_ , Blake grouched, _you’re one to talk, you brag about being a social butterfly but I never see you interacting with anyone besides our teams…)_ It also didn’t get to her that Yang assumed that Blake was incapable of social interaction. Who did Yang think she was, Ruby?

It was easy to assume things about Blake Belladonna and her, well, _charming_ personality. It was almost discriminatory, in a way – just because she was part cat didn’t mean she embodied _all_ the cat stereotypes, she complained in her head. She could admit, to herself, that she wasn’t the most _sociable_ of people, that she was skittish around people she didn’t know, and that dogs utterly terrified her, but when dogs often turned out to be biggest impediment in a sneaking mission to disable Atlas security or breaking into SDC property, you learned to be wary of the blasted things and their ability to sneak up on you despite your enhanced senses. Plus, dogs were absurdly sturdy – they’d take a beating and remain steadfast in their duty of stalling you until actual help arrived. Behind those eyes were some crafty, if unsubtle monsters, Blake screamed, internally.

The thing that she hated the most, though, was when people assumed that she was antisocial and withdrawn all the time. In her head, she made a clear distinction between being antisocial and being _introverted_ , and she identified as the latter. It wasn’t that she hated talking to people – she just preferred to stay in the shadows and observe (curse her training!) and do things at her own pace. Besides, just because she didn’t talk much unless prompted meant she didn’t want to be their friends. She had friends she could talk to normally, dammit! (Okay, one friend, and Ilia did _most_ of the talking, but they could confide in each other! It took a lot for her to open up to people, but _she could!)_

She _liked_ people. She _liked_ her team (well, she was wary of Weiss at the start, but recent events managed to convince her that maybe #NotAllSchnees). She loved Team RWBY, she really did, she wanted to be there for her team, which is why she waved the adorable little RWBY flags and tagged along when Yang would drag them to Vale. So she wasn’t talkative to them. Big deal!

But she knew that thanks to her upbringing it was difficult to just… _trust_ in people so fundamentally open, especially people like Ruby and Yang, who didn’t hide who they were. Weiss was Weiss, sure, but she was so transparent to read, despite the hot-cold demeanor. (If anything, that just made her easier to read. _Just like in my Mistralian cartoons,_ Blake would tell herself.) She wasn’t shy about revealing just enough about her insecurities to her partner or to her team, and her desire to rise above them. And Yang had her secrets, sure, but she didn’t hide the fact that she kept secrets – she just refused to share them. It was her pain, and it was private, and Blake respected that. (And she didn’t want to get started on just how _pure_ Ruby’s soul was.)

But that was Blake’s dilemma: the more open someone _seemed_ , the easier it was to read them (there’s the book lover in her), the harder it was for her to let her guard down and _open up_. Adam had done so much damage to her, she realized. 

Perhaps that was why she was drawn, despite herself, to their sister team. Intellectually, they made no sense: Nora’s manic energy was balanced by how, at the drop of a hat, she could turn sweet and sisterly; Ren’s passivity reminded her far too much of her own, but then he would surprise her by being a willing participant when Team JNPR would pull prank wars on Ruby and Yang; Pyrrha’s politeness and aloofness implied a level of detachment from her peers, perhaps even condescension, but once you got past the rehearsed smile, Pyrrha proved _remarkably_ thirsty for normal interaction. It was like the entire team was so used to hiding who they were, dressing up and putting up a façade that people expected of them. Once you got past those layers, you would be shocked by what you found. In many ways, Blake felt she could relate to that. A part of her appreciated the… _secretiveness_ of it all. She found herself relaxing more when she was observing their sister team and trying to figure out what made them tick because, as Blake realized, she was in her element when she was trying to puzzle out a difficult passage from her books. What she sought from her books was the subtleties of the heart, the things left unsaid that emerged despite the characters’ best attempts to suppress them. (The erotica was just a bonus.)

Strangely enough, it was Jaune that triggered her instincts the most. It didn’t make sense – the leader of team JNPR was so _simple,_ so seemingly _naive._ He wasn’t a threat in combat at all, and he was like a big, dumb, bumbling _dog_ in the way he wore his heart on his sleeve and his determination to be friendly to _everyone_. He was just so determined, during the times their teams would share meals in the cafeteria, to make sure people were involved in the conversation: throwing out questions to Pyrrha to allow her to contribute to whatever inane conversation Ruby and Yang would start, clumsily trying to charm Weiss enough for her to stop filing her nails and join in Yang and Ren’s argument over the best approach to combat King Taijitu (Ren preferred a more reactive response, Yang preferred, well, Yanging her way through it), even asking her about the book she was reading. (She was glad Ruby and Yang didn’t remember her stock line about the man with two souls, because it would have been awkward to explain why she hadn’t finished the book she had been reading a few months ago.) The man didn’t seem to have a single deceptive bone in his body, and he kept nothing secret: not his budding crush on Weiss, or his large family ( _seven sisters! seven!)_ or his utter lack of competence in anything combat related.

But that was the thing: despite his, well, everything, his team respected him – and not even in a patronizing way, as Blake had initially suspected when she observed Pyrrha defer to him even if he was clearly inexperienced at, well, _everything_. Ozpin certainly _saw_ something in him when he was made leader, and it definitely wasn’t just the fact that, like Ruby, he took charge of his team during initiation and made the best use of their skillsets when nobody else could. No, there _had to be more to it._ Like the rest of the team, there were _layers_ to him, and to her horror, she couldn’t properly read him until he came forward with his own secret. That explained why her instincts flared up around him, she supposed. He had earned his team’s loyalty because he was _one of them_. Someone they could trust to keep their secrets, and someone who trusted them with his. And despite his own deficiencies, he _always_ watched out for them and their wellbeing.

(It was official, Blake concluded, when Jaune revealed the forged transcripts: Jaune was pretty much a _dog_. And you don’t trust dogs, the crafty monsters. Dogs gave unauthorized snuggles and knew just how to break down your defenses to steal said snuggles. Her instincts were right _again_.)

The point was, she liked team JNPR. She didn’t mind conversing with them, and for the most part they were good at giving her space when she made it clear she didn’t want to talk. She worried endlessly about that part of herself ( _am I being too cold? Should I respond more?_ _Do they think I’m ignoring them?_ ) and always resolved to do better next time, but it was difficult to change such a fundamental part of yourself, and easier to just ignore the problem. (Perhaps that was why her semblance allowed her to _run away from her mistakes_.) But they never bothered her when she wanted her privacy, and she repaid them the favor. They kept their secrets, she kept hers. That was all she ever asked from people, so if Pyrrha approached her with her dirty little secret, hoping to share it with _someone_ , why wouldn’t she reciprocate? The girl clearly knew her boundaries. In their line of work, that was surprisingly rare.

So _maybe_ Yang got to her a bit. Not much, just a little. _Why_ did she have to justify her friendship with Pyrrha anyway?

\---0---

_Welcome to **Aura and Semblance Group Report!**_

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: I do hope you aren’t too cross at Yang for last night, by the way.

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: I believe it was rather mean of her to imply that you were, ah…

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: The terminology was “Grumpy Cat”, I believe?

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: I treasure our secret little writing nook and discussions of who “Best Girl” is, and I understand why you would want to keep that secret.

Tiger & Dragon: its ok pyr

Tiger & Dragon: yang doesn’t understand the resonance of our immortal souls, for she is no paragon of virtue and glory

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: Indeed. Our souls, on the other hand, are infinite in distance and unbound by death.

Tiger & Dragon: And so I release my soul – that it may protect thee

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: And I… thee?

_Something is typing…_

Tiger & Dragon: dude

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: I’m sorry!!!

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: It’s been so long since I read the novel!!!

Tiger & Dragon: fake fan

Tiger & Dragon: i see how it is

Tiger & Dragon: The great Pyrrha Nikos, who claims that she, too, is a fan of the esteemed _Ninjas of Love_ series, can’t even quote the confession/soul melding scene in the fifth book properly. Miss Nikos, I am _ashamed_ of you.

Tiger & Dragon: your just as disgusting as the _filth_ you call cartoons

Tiger & Dragon: ren was right, ur a dust-damned meeb

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: You love those cartoons too Blake!

Tiger & Dragon: im not the one who draws the yuri fanart

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: At least I don’t do tentacle yaoi… smut! I’m not even sure how that works!

Tiger & Dragon: you lack the imagination ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

\---0---

It was such an innocuous thing, the way their relationship started. It was early in the semester, and everyone was finally settling into their rhythm, and Blake’s involved heading to library after class if she wasn’t training or sparring with someone. It wasn’t even the lure of books that she was after, her personal collection was perfectly adequate (and the library, while stacked with literature from all the different kingdoms, didn’t have any that suited her… interests). What she enjoyed was the anonymity of being in a crowd of people. A part of her understood that the large black bow on her head and her own appearance drew attention, but it was easier to distract people if you followed a large crowd of people and used the mass of bodies to slip into a nearby shelf or seat. In their dorm rooms, Yang would always ask her what she was reading, and Ruby would try sneaking a peek at one of her books (her greatest regret was leaving her first edition limited copy of the original _Ninjas of Love_ novel, before it was the mega-franchise it was now, under her pillow, allowing Ruby to read the contents and declaring it _filth_ ) while Weiss scoffed at the idea of reading for _leisure_ instead of education. And that was fine – Blake could take gentle ribbing of her tastes, she understood, on an intellectual level, that friends could _do_ that. But every now and then she felt the need to just… melt into anonymity, slip into her books, and just read without the pressure of being judged. She enough of that already, being a faunus, and she was extra careful not to let her _other_ hobbies reveal themselves.

The problem with the library, however, was that there were days where it seemed that everyone spontaneously decided to just gather there, and now it felt like all the seats and spaces were taken. Blake was just about to find a secluded corner to sit in when she spotted the Jaune, on his lonesome at the farthest edge of the library.

In retrospect, she should have known what was happening. She wasn’t blind to Ruby and Jaune being bullied by Cardin during their first few weeks, and just the other day Cardin was being especially horrible to this rabbit girl faunus in the cafeteria, but she was wrapped up in her own self-hatred, her anger over her cowardice, her inability to intervene out of fear. Her beliefs _demanded_ she intervene, but the pragmatic side of her knew that it would do the faunus no good if someone stood up for her. (That was a justification, she knew, to cover for her selfishness. Blake hated how easy it was for her to compromise on her idealism just because an easier solution presented itself – wasn’t that why she had abandoned the Fang? Abandoned Adam?) So, she had allowed it to happen. She didn’t let it get to her. It didn’t!

Which was why it was easy for her to be blind to the signs when, out of sheer necessity, she asked for the seat opposite to Jaune, and the look on his face was that of a victim, afraid of angering their betters. She ignored the ways he tried to appease her, tried to ensure she wouldn’t do anything mean to him. She ignored the fact that Jaune was writing an essay on rapier wasps when she was sure Cardin was assigned that as punishment, ignored Jaune scrambling to make small talk about the book she was reading (incidentally, a thrilling narrative about a man whose beastly side threatened to break free and act on his primal desires, and his best friend, who did his best to reign in his friend’s worst impulses), ignored the wistful look on his face as he mentioned that one of his sisters was a big fan, and he had read some of the novels too, before apologizing because it sounded weird, he swore he wasn’t trying to hit on her just because she was reading erotica… she ignored him when he, as a last resort, mentioned that Pyrrha was a big fan of _Ninjas of Love_ too. It was so easy to be _blind_ , to ignore his secrets, as he was not very subtle about anything. Still, it was his secret to keep. So she went blind.

So blind, in fact, that she hadn’t realized that Jaune had left. She briefly wondered why until she saw the blonde converse with his redhead partner. Blake could ignore a lot of things, but she couldn’t miss the way that Jaune motioned to her before escaping his partner’s grasp and fleeing from the library. And try as she might, she couldn’t ignore the defeated sighs and the murmurs from the Invincible Girl, thanks to her enhanced hearing. She couldn’t ignore the way Pyrrha seemed so _helpless_ , how badly she wanted to chase after the leader of Team JNPR but stopped herself for some reason that was between her and Jaune. And she couldn’t ignore how, when Pyrrha asked to be seated opposite her, her face had once again slipped into that smiling façade, before asking her if what Jaune said about her being a fan of _Ninjas of Love_ was true.

(She would ignore how, for a week or so, Jaune avoided contact with his team, even if his dumb face made it painfully obvious he didn’t want to be away from them. She would also ignore how Jaune had slipped the _Ninjas of Love_ name into his earlier conversation with Pyrrha, knowing full well that his partner longed to find other people to discuss the novel with. That was strictly Jaune’s secret, and Blake treasured secrets. Finally, she would ignore the gaps of knowledge in Pyrrha’s recollection of _Ninjas in Love,_ or her beloved Mistralian cartoons. As an older fan, Blake knew that gatekeeping was bad, and that her responsibility was to welcome new fans into the fold.)

For someone whose sole tactic in combat was absorbing hits, Jaune sure liked diversionary tactics. And for all that Pyrrha seemed to like taking things head on, she sure was fond of talking around what she actually wanted to say. What was it about Team JNPR constantly subverting her expectations of them?

\---0---

_Welcome to **Aura and Semblance Group Report!**_

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: Oh dear… Weiss is raising a ruckus in the group chat again.

Tiger & Dragon: yeah shes been on that whole day

Tiger & Dragon: surprised she hasnt told the whole school, really

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: I wish to intervene, but… Jaune said it was fine. It’s easier to just let them talk, he says. That they’ll get tired eventually.

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: They aren’t saying anything, but I can tell Ren and Nora are getting exasperated for Jaune’s sake, since he won’t do anything. Ren even started doing stretching exercises in the room! He doesn’t do that after he’s taken a bath unless Nora annoys him too much!

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: I…

\---0---

Blake pinched the bridge of her nose. In the short time that she had known Pyrrha, she had gleaned much from her: a tendency to mother everyone, a desire to meddle in the affairs of others that she desperately tried to curb, a love for gory horror movies, that she loved cookies more than even Ruby, even if they were bad for her diet. Blake enjoyed just how utterly _normal_ it all felt, how easily she was telling Pyrrha things that took her a lot of courage to admit to herself. It was becoming a _habit¸_ and it became easy to let your guard down and be comfortable once you had formed your habits.

(The last time things started to feel like they were becoming a habit, she was on an SDC train with Adam. The only difference was, here, her new habits felt _right_. She _felt_ _right_.)

Once they had grown comfortable with each other, the conversations escalated. They had small chats about whatever on their scrolls in between extensive planning sessions for a fanfic they were co-writing, featuring a character that Blake _swore_ Pyrrha designed with a Pumpkin Pete hoodie and baggy jeans as his main outfit, and a heroine with shining red hair and prodigious combat ability who nevertheless always needed the wannabe hoodie knight to rescue her. She overlooked the act of self-insertion, as Pyrrha had allowed her to make modifications to Sir Hoodie Knight so that he at least had long, black hair, a more tolerable outfit and the sword and shield combo was replaced with a more practical katana-into-gun model that allowed for more dynamic fight scenes. Pyrrha even acquiesced to Blake’s request to add a second heroine to their story, a blonde brawler with control over fire and a tendency to resort to violence when provoked, although Pyrrha was adamant that the redhead remained the _main_ heroine. Blake didn’t care much, although she noticed that the more she wrote, the more it was apparent that there was chemistry between the brawler and the black-haired knight who was developing ninja tendencies, which led her to push for more scenes of the brawler. At some point, the characters seemed to have develop lives of their own, and the two of them found themselves writing a rather risqué scene between the brawler and the redheaded warrior that just oozed sexual tension. At some point, Blake suggested they bring back the original design for Sir Hoodie Knight, perhaps as a new rival character. They feared the story had started escaping from them.

(By the time Pyrrha and Blake realized they had written a full-blown Mistralian light novel, the main cast had grown to eight, with a large cast of supporting characters.)

She had even ( _completely by accident_ , Blake promised) found a new sanctuary in the roof that Pyrrha and Jaune used to train most nights. She wasn’t about to make a nightly habit of it, but beyond the first time she had appeared, when Jaune and Pyrrha eyed her with a wary, measured look that Blake had only seen in veteran warriors who were always prepared for every eventuality, they had all settled into a comfortable routine. She wasn’t about to say anything about their training, they weren’t about to say anything about her being there, and that was fine for everyone involved. Was it any surprise, then, that after a while even the act of speaking to them had become comfortable? That at some point she knew Ren and Nora’s breakfast habits, since Pyrrha and Jaune talked about it so often? That it had become second nature for team JNPR to see Blake and Pyrrha chatting casually on their way back to the dorms, or that Blake was the team RWBY member most likely to knock on their door to look for Pyrrha (or Jaune, sometimes, but that was because Pyrrha was too shy to just outright ask Jaune to eat dinner with her alone, so she had to play the third wheel)? It had happened enough in the past few weeks that Ren had procured for Blake her personal teacup for when she dropped by their dorms. (He assured her he would do the same for her other teammates once they discovered the joys of tea. No such luck there.)

It was inevitable, Blake supposed, that she would pick up some of their habits too.

\---0---

_Welcome to **TEAM RRAYNNBW!**_

Snow Angel: I understand that I may be speaking out of line here, Jaune, and I understand that we’ve been discussing this matter since last night, but I still have a hard time accepting that you _cheated your way into Beacon_ and you _didn’t even have your aura unlocked when went here_.

Snow Angel: Who… who does that? How much of a _dunce_ do you have to be?

RedLikeStrawberries: _weisssssss_

RedLikeStrawberries: be nice

Snow Angel: _I am!_

Snow Angel: And I still can’t believe you knew about this and kept it a secret!

RedLikeStrawberries: we’re besties! i cant betray jaune’s trust like that

RedLikeStrawberries: besides how would you like it if I told everyone the stuff you hide under your pillow

Snow Angel: RUBY

Snow Angel: ROSE

Snow Angel: I HAVE TOLERATED YOUR FOOLISHNESS FOR TOO LONG

Snow Angel: GET DOWN FROM THAT BED AND FACE ME

_Someone is typing…_

SunnyLittleDragon: ok i got the two to calm down

SunnyLittleDragon: cant lose focus on the important stuff

SunnyLittleDragon: juicy deets on VB’s criminal past!

\---0—

Blake could already imagine the panic on Pyrrha’s face, having to watch over Jaune, knowing that the leader of team JNPR did his best not to let the friendly ribbing get to him. Blake felt that Jaune understood, on an _intellectual_ level, that friends did that. She wasn’t entirely sure how many friends Jaune had growing up who weren’t his sisters, and as such demanded different rules, but gentle ribbing was something friends _did_.

Until she recalled that, Jaune, well, wasn’t exactly an _intellectual_. He was more of a dumb dog. Dumb, loyal, always knew how to sneak up on you despite your enhanced senses. Dust, what did Pyrrha _see_ in him?

Well, whatever. Dumb dogs didn’t know how to melt into anonymity. Luckily for dumb dogs everywhere, Blake was an expert at that.

 _Pyrrha, you owe me for this_ , Blake mused.

\---0---

_Welcome to **TEAM RRAYNNBW!**_

Big Kitty Goth GF: we live in a society where harem fanfics are more tolerable than tentacle porn

Snow Angel: Excuse me?

Big Kitty Goth GF: oops

Big Kitty Goth GF: wrong chat

SunnyLittleDragon: what

SunnyLittleDragon: who are you even talking to

SunnyLittleDragon: context???

Snow Angel: _Please_ keep things safe for work.

Big Kitty Goth GF: sorry mb

Big Kitty Goth GF: why cant i edit my messages???

RedLikeStrawberries: sorry blake this is too funny not to cap

\---0---

Blake did her best to ignore the maniacal cackling from the greedy golden dragon who lived at the top of their bunk bed. Instead, she targeted the strawberry reaper, who had felt the danger and opted to escape their dorm room, rushing away with a burst of petals trailing behind. Blake dashed after the opened door, ignoring the Schnee heiress’ complaints about the mess of petals.

\---0---

_Welcome to **TEAM RRAYNNBW!**_

SunnyLittleDragon: oh man p-money, you shoulda seen how fast blakey ran

SunnyLittleDragon: now i kinda wanna know who shes talking to

Snow Angel: I shudder to think who she would be sharing such… _lewd_ … thoughts with. Perhaps that uncouth monkey boy?

SunnyLittleDragon: sun? nah, apparently she doesnt reply often to him

Cereal Girl: Sun? Who is that?

SunnyLittleDragon: oh he’s this dude who hung out with blake when she ran away. remember the whole docks thing? he was with her.

SunnyLittleDragon: cute monkey faunus. real nice abs. not a big fan of him leaving his team behind on a whim tho. a bit dumb but deffo loyal. really got the hots for blake, i could tell. totally blake’s type I bet shes just being shy

SunnyLittleDragon: oh man **Vomit Boy** you better watch out if you keep bulking up blakey might notice u :3

Cereal Girl: I… see.

Snow Angel: Wasn’t he set back to Haven Academy? I cannot fathom how he hasn’t been expelled for abandoning his team.

Snow Angel: Also, why do _you_ know all this?

SunnyLittleDragon: he seemed cool. we exchanged scroll numbers. we might hang out when he gets back to vale. who knows i might take VB and ren with me, lets make a boys night out of it

Party Pooper: Pass.

\---0---

The darkness in the hallways suited her, Blake thought, as she flitted from shadow to shadow to sneak up on the little red reaper, who had stopped once she found herself at the dorm’s common room kitchen. Blake, feeling frisky, typed a quick message.

\---0---

_Welcome to **TEAM RRAYNNBW!**_

Big Kitty Goth GF: _I see you,_ **Ruby Rose**.

\---0---

Well, that was fun, Blake thought, as she dragged Ruby back to their room. Yang’s laughter rang out as she saw her baby sister scared straight by the teenage ninja catgirl faunus’ antics, but Blake didn’t pay much attention to that, as Pyrrha had sent her a whole _lot_ of messages in the past few minutes.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Aura and Semblance Group Report!**_

Achilles ♥ Jeane: Blake

Achilles ♥ Jeane: Is it true?

Achilles ♥ Jeane: Do

Achilles ♥ Jeane: Is your type…

\---0---

Blake’s eyes squinted as she parsed Pyrrha’s messages until she took the time to read the unread messages in the main group chat.

Her first instinct was to panic, because one thing she had learned about Pyrrha was that she was, well, _passionate_ , but her second instinct was that, well, _Pyrrha_ _owed her one_ , and friends were allowed to gently rib each other, right?

\---0---

_Welcome to **Aura and Semblance Group Report!**_

Tiger & Dragon: iunno pyr i may have a type

Tiger & Dragon: blondes are nice sure but they gotta be determined to improve themselves + abs are optional, but they have to at least be fit. i dont mind if theyre messy

Tiger & Dragon: i dont mind if theyre dumb as long as theyre loyal

Tiger & Dragon: know anyone like that? tall, blonde, and scraggly? 😉

\---0---

 _Well,_ Blake thought, as she watched her scroll be enveloped in what looked like dark Aura, _let's just hope Valean scrolls are tougher than they look._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The curse of Blake is that she overthinks everything. Also, I love writing Blake. She’s sassy when she wants to be. Also, we'll see more of this unfold from other POV's in future chapters.
> 
> If you have any specific interactions in the cast you want to see, feel free to leave a review and request ‘em. I’ve got a ton of ideas, like the Blake’s Blonde Harem group chat (created by Yang, of course) but I’m always open to new ones. The only thing I’ll say, though, is that the focus will always be on the eight main characters, so I probably wouldn’t be able to do something like, say, Shopkeep & Shopkeep & Tukson or something. Next chapter… we’ll see what I feel like writing.
> 
> See, the other reason I wrote this fic is to write dumb interactions between team RWBY and team JNPR. I refuse to subscribe to the idea that these characters aren’t incredibly good friends who hang out with each other during their off-time. I got into RWBY after watching the volume 2 food fight, and as a result I can’t erase the idea that despite all the PLOT and important world-saving shit they have to do, they still get up to dumb shenanigans. I’m not fond of stuff like saying Blake doesn’t interact with anyone outside her team or Sun and Neptune in volume 2 because why would she participate in the food fight if she was that antisocial? And when Pyrrha tells Jaune during the dance that he helped her make friends that will last her a lifetime, you can’t tell me that she isn’t thinking of how Jaune and Ruby’s friendship bridged the two teams together and let her meet team RWBY as well. Or in Volume 7, while Blake and Yang’s screen time was mostly between the two of them, I find it hard to believe that they still weren’t doing shenanigans with the rest of the crew. (On a side note, I am sad that we never got to see Weiss, Oscar, and Jaune go to the movies, or Blake and Yang clubbing like dorks, simply because that has no bearing on the plot)
> 
> This is not meant to be a critique of the show. I love the show, despite the criticism some may level at it. The show, in my opinion, is great at leaving lots of implied spaces for us to headcanon what these characters do in their spare time, which is fertile ground for fanfiction. Unfortunately, I feel we as a FNDM haven’t taken advantage of this enough to show fun rarepair interactions. This fic is my attempt to contribute to that rare fanfic idea, the canon compliant side stories parallel to the main plot. If RWBY can’t afford to do filler episodes dedicated purely to characters interacting, then it’s our job as fans to fill in the blanks, in my opinion. That’s why I write fanfics, anyway!


	3. Volume 1.5 (Wednesday): would you like some coffee with that milk?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a reviewer asked for some Jaune and Ren bromance, and I had already decided to do a Ren chapter next, so here we are! I’m a bit conscious of possibly overusing Jaune in the previous chapters, especially since the last one was, in my head, a Pyrrha/Blake feat. Jaune centric chapter, so please tell me if I’m overexposing certain characters in the story. 
> 
> Speaking of Pyrrha and Blake, I’m glad nobody got mad at all the dark Pyrrha jokes I snuck in the last chapter. I was really tempted to throw in a line about pennies and Pyrrha breaking coins into quarters. I still have some restraint. I could be convinced to loosen those restraints, though…
> 
> Adjusted the title conventions a bit to indicate where we are in the story. Volume 1.5 means it’s between Volume 1 and 2, for example. Just assume that each chapter happens a day or so after the previous one unless I indicate a passage of time specifically.

Most days, Ren was fine. Most days, Ren didn’t need to use his semblance actively, nor did he think much about Kuroyuri, or the image of Nora Valkyrie _the child_.

Every now and then, though, Ren would wake up with the memory fresh in his mind, an old, unhealed wound that would reopen and all the regret and the anger would come rushing in. It wasn’t _often_ enough to be something Ren prepared for, like a sickness of the body one simply _lived_ with, but it was not uncommon that the instances would come as a shock. Those were the times when he would have to force himself _not to think_. And today felt like one of those days.

 _This, too, will pass,_ Ren thought to himself. The last solitary thought he would allow for himself. After all, Lie Ren was a man of few words.

What most people didn’t know, however, was that Lie Ren was also a man of few thoughts.

That was why Ren wasn’t fond of talking about himself, why he preferred Nora take the lead in any social interaction the pair had. That was why he knew all these stretching exercises, and meditative techniques, and herbal remedies to help clear his mind. Reaching a state of _zen_ , for Ren, wasn’t something he did not for the discipline, because it signified a mastery of the martial arts but because he _needed_ to clear his mind of his thoughts.

He was fine when he was thinking about _other_ people, doing things for _other_ people, like when he would cook breakfast for the team during lazy Saturday mornings, or teaching the team some useful stretching exercises, or helping Jaune choreograph something new for their next dance/training session. It was when he was left alone with his thoughts that Ren recoiled in fear. Ren wasn’t exactly _fond_ of looking inward because he was afraid of what he would find.

If one’s semblance was an expression of their soul, then Ren’s semblance simply manifested what he always knew about himself: his tendency was towards _repression_.

\---0---

_Welcome to the beginning of the **Lie Ren** and **Weiss Schnee** group!_

Weiss Schnee: I see we finished faster than the others today.

Lie Ren: It might take them a while still. Apparently, Yang is busy complaining more than doing work and Blake would rather read than arrange books. The plants are proving more trouble than they are worth for Pyrrha and Nora as well.

Weiss Schnee: It seems like Ruby and Jaune _almost_ spilled Oobleck’s coffee all over his lecture notes for tomorrow. Does Oobleck even _use_ those notes?

Weiss Schnee: Anyway, Ren, have you tried out the new place I scouted a few days ago?

Lie Ren: Yes.

Lie Ren: I went there with Yang during the whole docks fiasco, once she had calmed down.

Lie Ren: The tea was so-so, but Yang seemed satisfied with the coffee.

Weiss Schnee: Knowing that brute, she probably drowned the damned thing in sugar and cream. I swear, she and her sister have _terrible_ taste in coffee.

Weiss Schnee: _Would you like some coffee with that milk, Ms. Xiao Long? Ms. Rose, may I suggest ordering something off the children’s dessert menu instead?_

Weiss Schnee: Ahem. I apologize for taking over most of the conversation.

Weiss Schnee: In any case!

Weiss Schnee: Was the ambiance to your liking? The clientele? Was the service efficient and performed in a diligent manner?

Lie Ren: Er.

Lie Ren: It was difficult to pay attention to these things when my primary concern was ensuring Yang did not fly off the handle, so to speak.

Lie Ren: Incidentally, this Valean turn of phrase confuses me. How does one fly off the handle?

Weiss Schnee: Ren! Focus!

Lie Ren: My apologies.

Weiss Schnee: I suppose I will have to make the trip to Vale myself once we have served our detention. Tomorrow, perhaps? I am rather tired of cold cafeteria leftovers.

Weiss Schnee: Between the classes, the barrage of detention, and our own training in the afternoons, I find there is little time to enjoy a warm, delicious and healthy meal that isn’t dust-damned _microwaved tuna_. We aren’t _cats!_ Or _heathens!_

Weiss Schnee: Don’t tell Blake that. She might feel I am being discriminatory.

Weiss Schnee: Anyway! Do you wish to tag along, Ren? You may take Nora with you. My treat.

Lie Ren: I wouldn’t mind, but I’d much rather not bring Nora.

Lie Ren: Jaune and I have agreed to distance Nora from coffee since the flapjack incident. And she still despises, and I quote, “leaf water”, despite my best efforts.

Lie Ren: Besides, was it not the point of these little meetings to alleviate the stress of handling our partners?

Weiss Schnee: Of course. I simply thought that Nora would be interested in going to Vale with you.

Lie Ren: Goodness, I doubt it. I am not really suited to be anyone’s companion when going out for leisure. I understand that I can be a bit… dry.

Lie Ren: I apologize if I am not one for amusing conversation, Weiss.

Weiss Schnee: Please don’t undersell yourself. I enjoy your company far more than any wannabe suitor who used to approach me back in Atlas. All they can talk about themselves, or their father’s wealth, or some other nonsense.

Lie Ren: As opposed to… my silence?

Weiss Schnee: I wouldn’t call it silence. I like to think of it as you being careful with your words.

Weiss Schnee: Besides, there must be _something_ Nora sees in you to stay by your side, after all.

Lie Ren: I

_Someone is typing…_

Lie Ren: I fear it might be… dependence on Nora’s part.

Lie Ren: I think… if we hadn’t known each other since our childhoods, she wouldn’t be by my side today.

_Someone is typing…_

Weiss Schnee: Oh.

Weiss Schnee: I’m sorry. Is it a touchy subject?

Lie Ren: I try not to think about it.

\---0---

Ren had always assumed that his passing acquaintance with Weiss was one of convenience. (He tended to assume that of most of his acquaintances. In his darker moods, he assumed that was what his relationship with Nora amounted to.) He knew that he was a dreadfully boring man, with hobbies that very few people, especially here in Vale, shared. He knew that Nora’s hobbies and his didn’t exactly match.

The way it started was innocuous as well. It was just a small conversation during a team dinner: Weiss muttering to herself about how _anyone_ survived the chaotic mess that was Ruby and Nora’s friendship, after they began a rather spirited argument over… _something,_ Ren and Weiss had lost track of the conversation as Jaune and Yang had joined the argument, and Ren, feeling pangs of sympathy, offered a reply only she could hear, before suggesting tea to calm her nerves. Weiss refused, citing her hatred of tea because of how it reminded her of Atlas nobles. Ren nodded along. Things snowballed from there.

Soon they would be chatting every few days or so, whenever Weiss became too annoyed at her own team and their idiosyncrasies. It had helped Weiss, who had resolved to be a better and more understanding partner to Ruby, and it had helped Ren, who needed to be more _social_ anyway, Nora insisted. (Well, as social as one could be when their interaction was primarily via scroll, and the occasional visit to Vale in search of places that served good coffee _and_ tea. Unfortunately, most places only specialized in one or the other. Still, the short little meetings, which consisted mostly of Weiss talking and Ren nodding, counted as socializing, right?)

It was also through Weiss that Ren learned much about their sister team, although Weiss was careful not to reveal anything _too_ private for the boy to hear. Still, it had allowed Ren to gain insight into the other girls on Weiss’ team, and allowed him to consider them as more than just passing acquaintances. That insight led to him calming Yang down during the weekend Blake had fled. From Weiss’ scattered comments about her team, and his own observations, Ren understood that Yang, like him, struggled to keep her emotions in check. She simply put up a _different_ front.

(Much, much later, at the reunion in Argus, Ren would seek out Yang for this very reason. Ren _understood_ that part of Yang, even sympathized with it, and always made sure to be there for Yang when she needed it, even as he felt pangs of jealousy towards Yang’s _strength_ , the willingness to confront her emotions head-on. At least Yang could channel that anger into strength – all he could do was hide his.

Still, the moment that Yang realized just how Ren’s counteracted her own was the moment the two truly felt a connection with one another. A story for another time.)

At some point, he even started thinking of them as _friends_. He didn’t think he would find any, not with the way he was. Whenever it was one of those days, that thought had kept him sane.

_Don’t think about that._

So he didn’t.

\---0---

_Welcome to the Lie Ren and Weiss Schnee group!_

Weiss Schnee: Are you okay?

Lie Ren: Yes, Weiss. It’s nothing too serious. Just… me being myself.

Weiss Schnee: If you say so. I won’t ask anymore.

_Someone is typing…_

Weiss Schnee: So what do you think of my suggestion of inviting Pyrrha to these meetings?

Weiss Schnee: It would be good for her, I think, to have a break from having to babysit your team leader.

Weiss Schnee: And I look forward to chatting with someone who _appreciates_ coffee.

Weiss Schnee: I believe we have the shared bond of having to deal with… excitable partners, the three of us.

Lie Ren: Then why not invite Blake?

Lie Ren: Are things still awkward between you two?

_Someone is typing…_

Weiss Schnee: A little, but we’re mending things.

Weiss Schnee: Once things are less awkward with her, I _would_ like to have her as a part of our meetings. I can only imagine how stressful having Yang as a partner would be, and I live with her.

Weiss Schnee: Blake and I were never the _closest_ , but I admit I always liked arguing with her.

Weiss Schnee: And after everything… I would want to get to know her better. Understand _why_ she…they resorted to the things they did.

Weiss Schnee: If I am to make the Schnee Dust Company respectable again, I need to understand where the company went wrong and how to rectify the mistakes my father have made. Gaining the perspective of the faunus is vital to that.

Lie Ren: You make it sound like you’re using Blake as some kind of… token.

Weiss Schnee: It _does_ make me sound like a bad person, yes.

_Someone is typing…_

Weiss Schnee: No, I need to stop hiding behind pretty words.

Weiss Schnee: My teammates, they… they force me to be honest with myself.

Weiss Schnee: All my life, I’ve repressed what I want to truly say. Leaving my family to go to Beacon was my first real chance to express my own desires.

Weiss Schnee: It is difficult, but I find it liberating to express myself freely to all of you.

Weiss Schnee: Blake _challenges_ me, challenges my beliefs, but I appreciate it more than yes-men agreeing with all I say.

Weiss Schnee: I guess I just… I just want to get to know her better. Get to know _them_ better. And show them who I really am, not what is expected of me. It’s as simple as that.

_Someone is typing…_

Weiss Schnee: I’m sorry. This got rather personal. I didn’t mean to unload all this on you.

Weiss Schnee: I’m not very good at these kinds of conversations. Back in Atlas, I could only confide in these things with my older sister and my _butler_. And my older sister is not exactly the most emotionally available individual, even if I love her dearly. And the butler… well, Klein is paid to care about my feelings. Even if he has been very good to me.

Weiss Schnee: I’m afraid I don’t know the proper etiquette regarding these things. I’ve not had much opportunity to make friends.

_Someone is typing…_

Weiss Schnee: Here I go again, dominating this conversation. You must be getting tired of them, Ren.

\---0---

Was he, though?

A part of Ren admitted that he was jealous of Weiss. He, at first, felt a kinship with her, because he had sensed how much Weiss held back and repressed her emotions because of who she was and what she represented. He thought there was a connection there, two people whose default state was to _repress_ their emotions.

He _thought_.

There were days that his mind would turn to darker thoughts, though. Whenever those days rolled around, a small part of Ren would emerge in his mind, a small part that understood how _arrogant_ it was of him to assume that connection. Unlike him, Weiss was eager to shake off the shackles of her past, to stop repressing herself. She was racing her way through the finish line, the goal she had set for herself. No matter how far it seemed, she was making progress. Meanwhile, He still wasn’t even at the starting line. No, Ren wasn’t tired of watching Weiss relentlessly try to better herself. He admired it, the same way he admired Nora’s perseverance to barrel through life despite the overwhelming sadness that she held in her heart. In his darker moods, he could even admit that he was jealous of Weiss’ strength of character. Ren wished he were capable of that, but instead, like his semblance, he hid from the negative emotions.

He was thinking about himself again. He was _angry at himself_ again. He couldn’t afford to. Not after everything he had lost. He couldn’t afford to lose himself too.

So he pulled a trick he learned from Jaune.

\---0---

_Welcome to the Lie Ren and Weiss Schnee group!_

Lie Ren: No, I’m fine with it.

Lie Ren: I prefer listening to talking.

Weiss Schnee: Still…

Lie Ren: Also, Blake prefers tea over coffee.

Weiss Schnee: What!

Lie Ren: I’ve been serving her my personal tea leaves, and she’s been responding positively to them.

Lie Ren: I’ve already picked out a teacup for her personal use. Whenever she visits our dorm to spend time with Pyrrha and Jaune, I make sure to give her my finest tea.

Lie Ren: If you want, I can prepare some for you later.

Weiss Schnee: That… that would be nice.

Lie Ren: Also, I highly doubt Pyrrha would be interested in what we do with our meetings. She is very much invested in seeing Jaune live up to his potential.

Weiss Schnee: He _is_ her pet project, after all.

Lie Ren: Don’t let Pyrrha hear that from you. Also, he’s _our_ leader, so I would like to ask you tone down the criticism.

Weiss Schnee: Of course.

\---0---

At some point, Ren realized, he had grown to enjoy being the passive soundboard for Weiss to air her grievances on. The jealousy was still _there_ , but the anger he felt at himself shrank, day by day, bit by bit. He was finding more and more that he could meditate on his feelings without the fear and anger that dominated his thoughts. It was _easier_ to do so when his mind was focused on the people that had entered his life. That had made days like this easier.

He supposed he had to thank Weiss and the others for that. Having to pay attention to Weiss’ words, having to ensure he was responding when appropriate, telling her the right words to imply sympathy without being overly familiar, inserting the right amount of information to show he was paying attention to her words, meant he wasn’t thinking to himself _about_ himself. It was the same reason he treasured Nora’s Nora-ness, the way he had to interpret her confused dreams and make sense of her actions for other people. Their words and actions drowned out the harmful thoughts in his head until they had become manageable.

(Still, it was difficult, sometimes, forcing himself to sleep.)

_And now I’m thinking again. This has to stop._

Thankfully, his scroll let out a small sound.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Martial Arcs**!_

Apprentice Jaune: yo ren

Apprentice Jaune: wanna go w me on a run later after me n pyr are done training

Apprentice Jaune: we can do that yow gah thing you were talking abt the other day.

Master Ren: Yoga.

Master Ren: Also, sure, but why not invite Pyrrha instead? I’m sure she’d be happy you’re applying yourself more.

Apprentice Jaune: yeah but you know how she is. she worries abt me too much.

Apprentice Jaune: i know my body can take it. only thing ive ever been good for is my stamina. plus pyr said i have lots of aura. a little pain doesnt matter bc i need to catch up with you guys and my aura can handle it

Apprentice Jaune: plus i can tell she needs a break. she spends too much time training me along her own training + we barely have time to study and relax. she needs a break from my dumbassery

Apprentice Jaune: im askin too much from her already. cant slack

Master Ren: I understand, Jaune. Same place?

Apprentice Jaune: yeah thatd be cool. thanks buddy i owe you one.

Apprentice Jaune: ill do anything you ask my master. just ask politely 😉

Master Ren: Of course, Jaune. Of course.

\---0---

Ren had to admit, that got a chuckle out of him. Having little in-jokes with a friend made him feel like a normal person, helped drive away the bad thoughts. Having a friend like Jaune was nice, especially considering their circle of friends. With Ren having grown up mostly with Nora and Jaune growing up with seven sisters, learning that their immediate friend circle consisted primarily of girls must have felt like history repeating itself, but at least now they had each other. It was like having a brother, something he never had growing up. He didn’t have a lot of things, growing up, not after the Nuckelavee.

 _Stop it_. _Stop thinking about your issues._

But he couldn’t help himself. It was in his nature to think about things. Ren’s _issue_ was that when days like this happened, he hated having to _think_.

_Stop it._

If left to his own devices, his thought processes would inevitably lead to fear, doubt, and finally, anger.

 _I have to be brave_.

When days like this happened, his focus was on his mistakes, the way his rash decision-making and judgment hurt the people around him. Despite his best efforts, leading with his gut tended to fail: the last time he issued Nora an order, she was almost ambushed by a giant Deathstalker, with only his, Blake, and Weiss’ timely intervention saving her. The last time he made a move in combat that was his own, he was flung off the stinger of a giant Deathstalker and almost knocked out.

_I don’t want to lose you too._

That was why he was relieved Jaune was made leader, despite his deficiencies: at least the team’s lives weren’t on _his_ shoulders, and Ren already had too much of a burden as it were, dealing with his own baggage. He could barely take care of _Nora!_

_Stop. It._

(It was a relief then that, despite the rocky start, Jaune had proved an _excellent_ leader, despite the shaky combat. It just meant the rest of the team had to fill in the holes in their formation. Plus, he enjoyed Jaune’s unusual team training exercises, like the synchronized dance routine they had been working on for the better part of a semester. It was very amusing to watch the normally incompetent Jaune be the best at _something_ , while the Invincible Girl struggled to perform a simple kick-step, kick-step, body-roll. It wasn’t _rocket science_!)

 _That_ got a chuckle from him, a small sound that would have been difficult to hear, even in the silence of JNPR’s dorm room. Ren was thankful that nobody was around to observe him move from anger to smiling to himself as he recalled his antics with team JNPR. No matter how angry he became towards himself, that had always calmed him. He never thought it possible with anyone but Nora, but somehow…

But he was rambling to himself again. He turned to his scroll instead.

\---0---

_Welcome to the Lie Ren and Weiss Schnee group!_

Lie Ren: Ah, by the way.

Lie Ren: Apologies in advance if I don’t respond to your messages later, Weiss.

Lie Ren: Jaune and I plan on doing some extra training later. Knowing Jaune, it wouldn’t just be some light jog and a quick spar.

Weiss Schnee: I understand.

Weiss Schnee: You do need a break from my constant bellyaching and complaining.

Lie Ren: I wouldn’t put it like that.

Weiss Schnee: Ren, _please._ I’m perfectly aware of my own shortcomings.

Weiss Schnee: I am doing my best to overcome them. That’s why I’m glad you don’t cast too much judgment on me.

Weiss Schnee: Nevertheless, I do wish you would sometimes exert the same effort to reprimand me like you do to Nora. I want to be a _better person_ , Ren. And I need everyone’s help to do that.

Weiss Schnee: I hate it when I lash out without hearing out the other side. I _hate_ it when I say something in the heat of the moment and can’t apologize afterwards. I’ve apologized to Blake already, but…

_Someone is typing…_

Lie Ren: I’ll keep that in mind, Weiss.

\---0---

When Jaune had admitted his own forged transcripts to the rest of the team, after he had admitted it to Pyrrha and they began their night training, Ren was the only one who had confronted their leader about it. It _wasn’t_ a day like today was, thankfully, so it was easy for Ren _not_ to be mad at Jaune, per se, even if what he did was dangerous and could potentially harm the rest of their team. However, if their leader were incompetent, Ren and Nora _could die_. And Ren couldn’t afford that. So he took Jaune to the rooftop and checked to see if Cardin was eavesdropping before laying out his issues with Jaune’s actions.

Ren didn’t raise his voice often, and he wasn’t about to start now. He was _tempted_ to, but it wasn’t worth it, not when his team leader didn’t seem worth it. He simply motioned for the two of them to sit. He merely wanted to list all the myriad ways that what Jaune did was _stupid_. Impress upon him the dangers of their profession, the selfishness of what he had done. Ren wasn’t angry at him. He just couldn’t understand why Jaune would do such a _stupid_ thing.

Until Jaune talked about his father. Talked about his family. Talked about the legacy he felt he needed to live up to, talked about how he was never good enough, talked about realizing they lived in a world where monsters could kill his sisters at any given moment and he would be helpless to do anything about it, talked about not wanting to watch his friends fight and potentially lose their lives while he was busy being the idiot stuck in a tree.

After all that, how could Ren be angry at him? When Jaune admitted how _stupid_ he was being and wanted to _better_ himself? That he needed everyone’s help? Jaune had made that mistake with Pyrrha. He did _not_ want to make that mistake with the rest of his team. And Ren, despite himself, admired that. Wished it desperately for himself. Wished that he didn’t need to be _brave_ and _alone_ , that he could confront his own negative emotions with the help of Nora and everyone else instead of going at it like he was some paragon of masculinity, carrying the world on his shoulders.

(Every now and then, Ren would consider the idea that perhaps he and Jaune would have been better off ignoring their fathers and their advice. Sometimes, Ren felt that their fathers’ words were more of a _curse_. Ren was told to not be afraid, to be _brave_ , and where had that gotten him? And so much of Jaune’s defects in personality could be attributed to some old-fashioned notion of masculinity he seemed to have inherited from his father. Jaune’s mother and her sisters were much better at giving him advice, even if he inherited a lot of habits traditionally seen as feminine. Besides, Ren was the same, having raised Nora pretty much by himself. Personally, Ren found himself admiring Jaune’s mantra about strangers and friends more than the saying about confidence. He desperately wished he could believe in strangers and friends more, despite himself.)

It was the second time in his life that he was glad that his semblance allowed him to repress his negative emotions, because he did not want to say anything in the heat of the moment that would destroy his relationship with his leader. Instead, he sighed and reached out with his hand in a conciliatory gesture.

Jaune, forever the massive _dork_ , tried to go for a fist bump instead. Ren acquiesced. It was the first fist bump he had ever performed, and he had to admit, it felt nice. The two of them laughed and laughed at how silly they looked, awkwardly trying to connect their fists together on the rooftop of one of Remnant’s greatest combat schools, watched over the broken fragments of the moon above. By the time they left the rooftops, they had made a silent pact to watch each other’s backs. Nothing more needed to be said. They weren’t exactly the talkative sort when they were together, and one conversation wouldn’t change that.

Still, Ren felt, maybe they could try.

That was the exact moment that Ren felt that Beacon could actually be a place he called home, that he could consider the people around him _family_ , the same way he viewed Nora.

(The part of him that bristled at the idea of calling Nora _just_ family was thankfully silent.)

And, well, if someone from his family asked for his help, then how could he say no?

So he promised, to himself, that he would help Weiss be a better person, despite his own shortcomings. Help Jaune fulfill his potential. Help Yang balance herself and find some form of peace. Help Blake, help Pyrrha, help Ruby… Maybe that way he could be a better person too. Maybe they could help each other. That promise made days like this much more tolerable.

The negative emotions lessened, just a little bit.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW!**_

SunnyLittleDragon: GODS ARRANGING THE BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY IS SO BORING

SunnyLittleDragon: no offense blakey :3

SunnyLittleDragon: THERE ARE WAY TOO MANY BOOKS ON BOARBATUSK AND BERINGEL ANATOMY HERE

SunnyLittleDragon: IT’S LOOKING PRETTY **GRIMM** GUYS

SunnyLittleDragon: get it?

Queen of the Castle: booooo

Big Kitty Goth GF: stop whining and itll be done faster yang

RedLikeStrawberries: yeah yang at least you aren’t trying to organize prof oobleck’s notes and materials

Vomit Boy: _doctor_ oobleck

Cereal Girl: Honestly? That sounds much better than tending to Professor Peach’s rather… aggressive plants.

Queen of the Castle: Who?

SunnyLittleDragon: the plant science prof? isnt everyone taking that class

Queen of the Castle: Not me! Also, isn’t that the class that always has substitutes and teaching assistants take over?

SunnyLittleDragon: still so weird how formal you type

Vomit Boy: trust us we stopped asking questions a long time ago

RedLikeStrawberries: but yeah, peach herself isnt around very often

SunnyLittleDragon: anw im so DONE i need to unwind

SunnyLittleDragon: YO VB YO REN

SunnyLittleDragon: YOU BOYS DONE?

SunnyLittleDragon: we should hang out again, grab some pizza, hit the arcades

SunnyLittleDragon: i need to redeem my honor

RedLikeStrawberries: oh are you doing ddr again? i want in

SunnyLittleDragon: sure sis.

RedLikeStrawberries: so i can watch jaune dance circles around you

RedLikeStrawberries: plus ren getting mad at you missing the body-roll is hilarious

SunnyLittleDragon: what??? how can you betray me sis???

RedLikeStrawberries: not my fault jaune and ren are better dancers than you

SunnyLittleDragon: still cant believe VB is better than me at ddr

Vomit Boy: _you’re just mad I got more style_

_Vomit Boy dabs on SunnyLittleDragon!_

SunnyLittleDragon: did you just

SunnyLittleDragon: dude VB your memes are so fkn outdated

SunnyLittleDragon: dork

SunnyLittleDragon: this is why you got no game

RedLikeStrawberries: jaauuune stop adding random commands without telling me

_RedLikeStrawberries pouts at Vomit Boy!_

SunnyLittleDragon: how are you doing that???

Party Pooper: In any case, I don’t mind. It would be nice to go to the arcade again.

SunnyLittleDragon: WAIT A MINUTE

SunnyLittleDragon: how come you dont wanna go clubbing w me, VB, and our new friend sun but your cool going to an arcade?

Vomit Boy: mb bc he doesnt want to babysit your lightweight alcoholic ass

SunnyLittleDragon: the hell VB when did you grow a spine

Party Pooper: No, do not worry, Yang. I don’t mind having to take care of you when you hit your four drinks.

Snow Angel: What is this about?

Party Pooper: That’s her absolute limit before she passes out.

Vomit Boy: one-drink Yang thinks she can dance

Party Pooper: two-drink Yang is nicknamed ‘Vomit Girl’.

Queen of the Castle: And three-drink Yang gets weepy and discovers she might like girls!

_Queen of the Castle fistbumps Vomit Boy and Party Pooper!_

SunnyLittleDragon: it was one time!!! and I said sorry already nora!!!

Queen of the Castle: You sure were feeling sorry when you were crying into my lap!

SunnyLittleDragon: AHHHHHHHHHHH

_Someone is typing…_

Party Pooper: In any case, I’m not averse to visiting the arcade instead of ruining our livers and Yang’s shoes even more. Perhaps not today, though.

Party Pooper: Weiss has already returned to the dorms and I’m rather tired after getting in some extra exercise and training.

Big Kitty Goth GF: how are you and weiss done so early?

Snow Angel: As it turns out, Ren’s semblance is _very_ useful in calming down chickens. We were done ages ago. Thank you, **Party Pooper**.

Party Pooper: No problem.

RedLikeStrawberries: you got the chicken feeding assignment??? i love that place! still weird that beacon has a farm though

SunnyLittleDragon: _fine_. I need some time to practice anw so i can whoop VB’s ass. you gotta teach me ur moves ren! you gotta _help me!_

SunnyLittleDragon: also, you need a better name. hang on

 _SunnyLittleDragon changed Party Pooper’s name to **Master Ren**_!

Big Kitty Goth GF: kinky

SunnyLittleDragon: oh, _master!_ please teach me your moves! ill do _anything_!

Cereal Girl: You don’t want that, Yang.

Queen of the Castle: Yeah, Renny’s a real slave driver if you let him teach you anything.

Vomit Boy: Ren, buddy, go easy on Yang, alright?

Master Ren: Of course, Jaune. I’ll do anything you request, as long as you ask politely. 😉

Queen of the Castle: _kinky_

_Someone is typing…_

_Big Kitty Goth GF changed Master Ren’s name to **Ren-sensei**!_

Big Kitty Goth GF: there. less perverted. happy now **Snow Angel**? stop pming to do this stuff, ruby n jaune could do it

Snow Angel: _Thank you._

Cereal Girl: I don’t know, there’s still something so delightfully depraved about Yang calling Ren _sensei…_

Cereal Girl: Just me?

Cereal Girl: Um… wrong chat?

Queen of the Castle: Preach it, sister!

\---0---

 _Dust-damned meebs,_ he voiced in his head, but the tone it took didn’t _sound_ angry. And to Ren’s delight, he allowed the emotion to bubble to the surface. For the first time in a very long time, he felt comfortable showing an emotion that was focused on _him_.

It wasn’t an easy process, unlearning a skill he had spent a lifetime developing. He knew that it was necessary for his survival, but being in Beacon, being with Nora and the rest of their new friends, showed Ren much about himself that he had long tried to repress. But Ren was willing to give it a try.

He was still afraid of himself, of the emotions he found within him when a day like this happened, but that was alright. It was easier to calm himself when he thought of his friends and all the refreshingly _normal_ things they were doing, in between learning how to kill fantastical monsters of darkness. Who knew he would find a hobby, of all things, doing dance choreography? Who knew he would enjoy Valean superhero fiction with Jaune, Yang, and Ruby, that he would come to despise Mistralian cartoons after meeting two of its most shameless fans in Blake and Pyrrha? Who knew he would find common ground with _Weiss Schnee_ over partners, coffee and tea, of all things?

Ren knew he wasn’t the most emotionally stable of people, despite his outward appearance. But that was fine. Bit by bit, he was improving. He had four years to go in Beacon, and friends to help him. Maybe not today, but in the future, he could perhaps be left alone with his own thoughts. In the future, perhaps, he wouldn’t wake up randomly with thoughts of revenge constricting his throat, of fear choking his body until he couldn’t breathe. There was no need to rush. Today was just one of those days.

So instead, he began preparing Weiss’ tea.

\---0---

_Welcome to the Lie Ren and Weiss Schnee group!_

Weiss Schnee: I will _never_ understand everyone’s obsession with these nicknames and silly group names.

Weiss Schnee: Did you know that Ruby insists on naming all of team RWBY’s group chats as _pollination_? What does that even _mean_? Are we all flowers? Is Ruby even _aware_ of the implications of the name?

Lie Ren: I see.

Lie Ren: Nora insists on naming our team’s chat “juniper berries”.

Lie Ren: No one quite knows _why_ , but I suspect Pyrrha might have an idea. She refuses to explain, however.

Weiss Schnee: Our teammates are _so_ weird, Ren. It’s a miracle we remain sane despite their insanity.

Weiss Schnee: Still… I suppose there _is_ no harm in the names.

Weiss Schnee: Thank goodness Nora taught me how to do this.

 _Weiss Schnee has changed the group’s name to **White Lotus**_!

Weiss Schnee: That tea you recommended proved wonderful, Ren. Very calming. I may develop a taste for it beyond the things served for informal tea gatherings in Atlas.

Weiss Schnee: Considering my personal color and your symbol, and to honor the name of the tea you suggested that has come closest to convincing me of the merits of tea, I thought this was a fitting name for our little group.

Weiss Schnee: I hope this is fine?

Lie Ren: I appreciate the sentiment, Weiss. I’m glad you enjoyed my recommendation.

Lie Ren: Although, if we do go through with your idea of inducting new members into this circle, the name may have to change.

Weiss Schnee: We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Lie Ren: Also, I will admit… I was worried my recommendation would not be up to your standards.

Weiss Schnee: Don’t be _silly_ , Ren.

Weiss Schnee: My standards may be high, but they aren’t _perfect_. Not yet, anyway.

Weiss Schnee: I may not like to admit it, but I value everyone in our team’s opinions and suggestions. Yes, even from your, ahem, “Fearless Leader”.

Weiss Schnee: Don’t tell him that. It’ll give him the wrong ideas.

Weiss Schnee: I suppose what I wish to say is you all at least reach up to my standards. Even if Ruby and Yang can be insufferable sometimes, and Jaune could be such a _dork_ , and Blake can be, well, Blake…

Weiss Schnee: …And Nora, bless her, still hasn’t paid me for the Lightning dust she, ah, appropriated the other week….

Weiss Schnee: …And Pyrrha fawning over her partner is the one blemish on one of the most _perfect_ women I’ve ever met…

Weiss Schnee: Comparatively speaking, I suppose I have no complaints about you.

Lie Ren: …thank you? I’m… flattered?

Weiss Schnee: It’s a _compliment_ , Ren! Honestly! Why are the boys in our little group so bad at receiving them?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t worry. They’ll assign each other nicknames. Eventually.
> 
> I know I said I was gonna do some Jaune and Ren bromance, but I ended up focusing more on Ren and Weiss bonding instead! Also, it’s nice to write a Ren chapter without having to use Nora front and center, and instead keeping her to the background.
> 
> I also tried reducing the prose sections in length, at least at the beginning, to differentiate Ren from Blake, whose prose sections were gargantuan because Blake tends to withdraw unto herself and overthink. I like exploring the idea of a character who just wakes up after a few months and realizes, damn, I’m changing and it’s thanks to the people surrounding him. How would a character react to that? I think that sometimes they accept it as positive, and sometimes they fear what they’re becoming. And as Ozpin says, fear itself isn’t a concern, but who you become when confronted with that fear. Will you be proud of who you become? Hence why I wrote Ren like this. This is how I interpret Ren’s volume 4 and 7 arc as well. Tell me what you think of his characterization here in the comments! I’d love to talk about it!
> 
> One last note: what are your favorite RWBY ship names? On an unrelated note, I’m running out of names for the various chats between characters, and I need inspiration… who knows, maybe I’ll make omakes based on the silliest group chat names that people like…


	4. Volume 1.5 (Thursday): you haven’t lived until you see Ren sweat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a more general #JustChatting chapter, with a few Nora bits thrown in. Updates might slow down in a bit as the FGO summer 2 rerun just started…
> 
> I’ll be honest here, guys: just play Boop or Boop (Acoustic) over this chapter, specifically the Nora-focused parts, and you’re getting the same general experience.

Nora Valkyrie _hated_ breakfast. She hated having to wake up with that feeling of absolute _nothing_ in the pit of her stomach, the humid air enveloping her, the days-old sweat that had accumulated on her body, knowing that she had to move fast and be alert if she wanted to eat that day. She hated that the body _required_ breakfast – why couldn’t humans and faunus live on just water and leftover scraps random eateries throw out at night? But most of all, she hated that she had to eat breakfast _alone_. How long had it been since she had eaten anything with anyone else, without having to worry about her food being stolen or other people mocking her and her strange attire? Nora Valkyrie was just _tired_ of it all, having to wake up and having to _look_ for breakfast.

Well, Ren had changed all that, but even so, she hated having breakfast when Ren wasn’t around.

Still… all things considered, entering Beacon was probably the best choice Ren and Nora ever made. Because Beacon was seriously making her reconsider her opinions on breakfast.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW**!_

Cereal Girl: So I said:

Cereal Girl: “Now that’s a xiphos!”

SunnyLittleDragon: …

Big Kitty Goth GF: …

Snow Angel: Well, at least now we know why he never talked to you again.

RedLikeStrawberries: i don’t get it

Cereal Girl: I’m not sure what you mean Weiss?

_Cereal Girl uploaded a video!_

SunnyLittleDragon: is this… a training video? you're doing vlogs now?

Big Kitty Goth GF: jaune’s suggestion. Also, it could use some editing pyr

Cereal Girl: I’m sorry!

Cereal Girl: I actually wanted to upload a photo of my opponent's sword.

Cereal Girl: See, it can’t compare to my Miló, but it was of respectable quality. Unfortunately, it was slightly on the smaller side, even for a xiphos. I wasn’t _satisfied_ handling it, but I’m sure it fit his hands well.

Cereal Girl: Didn’t stop me from beating him, unfortunately. He relied too much on excessively thrusting his sword with little variety to his rhythm. No finesse whatsoever.

RedLikeStrawberries: why would you do that with a xiphos??? theyre so flexible you have so many attack vectors with a well-made one, esp if you have a shield to cover your blind spots

Cereal Girl: Exactly! That’s what I said!

Cereal Girl: Um… I hope you’re not all bored by the weapon talk.

RedLikeStrawberries: no they’re just laughing really hard at some dumb thing. yang fell on the floor like a dum-dum

RedLikeStrawberries: blake’s trying to pretend she isn’t laughing but we can see her cat ears twitching and she’s covering her mouth which she only does when she’s giggling

_Someone is typing…_

SunnyLittleDragon: hey p-money

SunnyLittleDragon: quick question

Cereal Girl: Yes?

SunnyLittleDragon: what do you think about VB’s sword?

Cereal Girl: Oh, Crocea Mors?

Cereal Girl: I think it’s a _wonderful_ sword. A true classic.

Cereal Girl: The length is just perfect. Not too long and unwieldly, not too short and lacking in penetrating power. The width also makes it _very_ satisfying to swing around. There’s a real sense of _weight_ and _power_ when you grip it tight.

RedLikeStrawberries: really good quality too! Its definitely seen its fair share of use even if jaune isnt very good at it.

Cereal Girl: Don’t worry about that too much, Ruby. I’ve been making sure to teach Jaune how to handle his sword better.

SunnyLittleDragon: dsdasfadfdfsad

_Someone is typing…_

RedLikeStrawberries: pyrrha blake n yang are laughing again and im not sure why

Big Kitty Goth GF: pyr

Big Kitty Goth GF: do you polish jaune’s sword for him

Cereal Girl: Oh, I’ve offered to do maintenance for it, but Jaune is _very_ protective of his sword.

Cereal Girl: He’s allowed me to handle it a few times, and I must admit, I may need to use both hands to hold it properly. But the sword never lasts in my hands.

RedLikeStrawberries: man jaune never lets _me_ hold his sword. i just wanna check out that handle and pommel! i wanna wrap my hands around that beautiful grip!

Snow Angel: _Oh my Gods make it stop_

Cereal Girl: ???

Queen of the Castle: Oh, are we talking about Fearless Leader’s sword?

Queen of the Castle: Because he never lets anyone but Ren hold it for long.

SunnyLittleDragon: pfft

Big Kitty Goth GF: …go on.

Queen of the Castle: Oh, yeah, sometimes I get back to the dorms and Jaune-Jaune and Ren are off huddled in the corner all shirtless and Jaune goes “Hey Ren, hold my sheathe, I need to check something with my sword” and Ren just nods and grabs Jaune’s sheathe, but Jaune grunts and realizes his sword is stuck, so he asks Ren to pull harder, and _oh boy_ you haven’t lived until you see Ren sweat a lot while pulling out our Fearless Leader’s sword.

Queen of the Castle: And then Ren takes out the oil!

_Queen of the Castle is muted for one hour!_

Vomit Boy: _nora!!!_

Big Kitty Goth GF: jaune

Big Kitty Goth GF: _we were just getting to the good parts_

SunnyLittleDragon: yeah VB we wanna hear more about your sword and how ren handles it

Snow Angel: I think that this is a _disgusting_ conversation and you are both immature _children_.

RedLikeStrawberries: still not sure what is happening

Cereal Girl: ?

Cereal Girl: _OH_

Cereal Girl: You’re terrible, Yang!!!

\---0---

Nora, despite being muted, could still observe the chat, and so she stuck around to chuckle at the direction the conversation had taken. Honestly, her Fearless Leader made it too easy for everyone, and Nora felt that sometimes he was making it _too_ obvious, but it didn’t seem like most of them caught on to his harmless displays of buffoonery. (Well, Nora suspected Blake knew, but Blake could keep a secret. Nora _liked_ Blake for that reason. She was certainly glad Blake and Pyrrha found each other!)

She was currently at team JNPR’s dorm room, choosing to retreat there after learning that most of their last classes for the day were cancelled and the training rooms were closed down for some special, optional assembly, most likely about the Atlesian fleet arriving at Beacon in a few weeks’ time to act as security for the Vytal Festival. (The sister teams had known about this because, well, Pyrrha, Weiss, and Blake were, at one point, involved in doing the paperwork for the various reservations for airship hangers, lodgings for the Atlesian contingent, and other such bureaucratic nonsense. Blake had mentioned something about how much information they could gather just by offering to do the staff paperwork.) Consequently, detention was also cancelled (a surprise to the eight when they had arrived at the teacher’s lounge only to find a frazzled Oobleck telling them they were free for the day), which meant the sister teams had a lot more free time for that day.

Weiss immediately decided that it would be a good idea to see to the announcement – perhaps they were instructions on how to receive the Atlesian dignitaries? Proper etiquette lessons to ensure they received proper Beacon hospitality? _Maybe Winter was coming?_ Whatever the reason, Weiss decided she wanted to attend, although the rest of team RWBY didn’t want to sit through some boring speeches and decided to head to their dorms, along with Nora. Ren shared a knowing look with Weiss, nodded, and sighed before he made his way to his locker to deposit some objects. (Which was strange, Nora thought, since she could have sworn Ren had mentioned he was planning on heading to Vale today, so why the sudden change of plans?) Jaune had wanted to check if he could still train despite the training rooms being closed, but Pyrrha dissuaded him from doing so, instead suggesting he go with her to the library to work on their homework. To Pyrrha’s surprise, Jaune had revealed that he was all caught up with their schoolwork for the week. (Pyrrha didn’t know, but sometimes Nora would catch Jaune sneak out early in the mornings to catch up on his studies and reading, or that he would ask Blake for help to deal with difficult-to-parse textbooks. She also knew that he and Ruby would, at least once a week, meet to study together, usually after their Leadership class. How he still had any energy left for training after all that, Nora didn’t know.) Instead, Jaune excused himself and headed elsewhere. Pyrrha, dejected, went to the library alone.

The mystery of Jaune’s afternoon plans were quickly revealed when Pyrrha, Nora and the RWBY girls, wasting away the hours before dinner just chatting (Pyrrha, ever the responsible student, got her homework out of the way quickly and had decided to use the rest of her library time to relax and just chat with everyone, and Weiss had joined in, evidently bored by what the assembly in the hall turned out to be), decided to steer their idle conversation onto the topic of Jaune’s sword, which (Nora assumed) prompted the blonde leader’s return to the online conversation. Nora chuckled at her leader’s timing.

Nora found herself neck-deep in her thoughts, workshopping _all_ the jokes she and Yang could throw at Jaune’s way at dinner later tonight, looking back at all the things she had discovered were fun ever since entering Beacon, that she almost didn’t notice when her scroll buzzed with a notification from team JNPR’s group chat.

\---0---

_Welcome to **juniper berries**!_

Mom: guys the pantry is nearly empty, how come nobody told me?

Mom: im probably gonna do a food run down at vale since we have some free time

Mom: pyr is it ok if we put off tonight’s training?

Dad: That’s quite alright, Jaune. We all need a break.

 _Someone is typing_ …

Mom: i made the grocery list already so just tell me what else you all want

_Mom uploaded a file!_

Mom: whoops that’s the team tactics document i was drafting. oh well, its p much done. don’t forget to read it!

Dad: Jaune?

Mom: Yes, Pyrrha?

Dad: Is the document… two hundred pages long?

Dad: Yeah, but most of it is illustrations and charts and tables so we can visualize our team attacks! i also added some one liners i brainstormed over the weekened. i figured we could workshop em, try em out n see what works.

Daughter: Oh, man, TL;DR.

Son: You don’t expect us to read the entire thing _now_ , do you, Jaune?

Mom: well, not _now_ , but we gotta be ready for the vytal tournament

Mom: anw, heres the shopping list

_Mom uploaded a file!_

Mom: that good?

Dad: If you can get some of that bread I really like, that would be grand.

\---0—

(Nora Valkyrie _hated_ bread. Bread was rock-hard, tasteless, and sometimes had weird, green mold growing out of the side if you didn’t get to where the garbage was collected quickly enough. Sure, Ren tried to convince her not all bread was like _that_ , but Nora knew better! That was why she loved Ren’s pancakes: they were soft, sweet, and didn’t look like they were going to rot anytime soon.)

\---0---

_Welcome to **juniper berries!**_

Son: I’m good.

Son: Although, I’m with Weiss at the assembly, and she mentioned that Team RWBY’s own supplies are dwindling as well.

Mom: yeah i checked over their stuff n i think the only thing left here is blake’s tuna

Mom: did we eat _all_ the food the other night?

Mom: Also, is it just me, or do the other teams not… use the common room pantry?

Mom: i think its just us and RWBY keeping stuff in here

Dad: Come to think of it, I don’t see the other teams use the common room either.

Dad: You would think at least CRDL would, but, well…

Daughter: That’s because they know you can kick their ass, Pyrrha!

Son: I think Weiss and Yang scared them off after Russel tried to hit on both that one time.

Mom: well, i should prolly ask RWBY if they need anything too

Mom: pyr, can you cover all that for now?

Dad: Of course, Jaune.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW!**_

Ren-sensei: …and that is why your King Taijitu tactics are inferior to mine.

SunnyLittleDragon: still think mine is better

Ren-sensei: Which one of us fought a King Taijitu on their own?

Big Kitty Goth GF: he has you there, yang

SunnyLittleDragon: _blake stop siding with literally everyone else besides your partner_

Big Kitty Goth GF: only if you stop talking to me in chat when im _literally_ below you

Vomit Boy: guys

Vomit Boy: im gonna go on a food run since classes ended early. also other daily essentials you might need

Vomit Boy: anyone want/need anything?

RedLikeStrawberries: oh! oh, me!

Vomit Boy: yeah yeah ill pick up the strawberries at the farmers mart

_RedLikeStrawberries pouts at Vomit Boy!_

Vomit Boy: yeah, and the ice cream

RedLikeStrawberries: ice cream _s_. not until jen n berrys agrees to my strawberry cookies n cream proposal

Snow Angel: Your mangling of grammar is _atrocious_. What is the point of tutoring you if you won’t apply anything I teach?

Snow Angel: Also, just you, Jaune? Why are you handling your entire team’s shopping?

Cereal Girl: Oh, he’s the one regularly doing this for us.

Vomit Boy: yeah, sometimes someone goes w me but today ren and nora dont feel like heading out to vale and pyr cant go too often bc the paparazzi and the fans mob her.

Vomit Boy: we were so lucky nobody noticed pyr last weekend

Snow Angel: I see. Can you even carry everything?

Vomit Boy: probably? what, you worried, snow angel?

Snow Angel: _stop calling me that_

Snow Angel: How do you plan on paying for all our stuff, anyway? Our stipends don’t come in until the end of the month, and I’m pretty sure you’re not exactly flush with lien, considering things like your… wardrobe choices.

Snow Angel: …no offense.

Vomit Boy: none taken

Vomit Boy: altho ill have you know my hoodie is a limited edition collector’s item so its gonna sell for so much when i outgrow it

RedLikeStrawberries: you cut off the sleeves and made your mom alter it like three times to fit you

Vomit Boy: it still has some value!

Vomit Boy: also, im bringing pyr’s lien cards with me. not all the stores we buy stuff from accepts credit cards, so online delivery is out.

Snow Angel: Wait – _Pyrrha_ lets you handle her lien?

Snow Angel: Why???

Cereal Girl: Yes? I’m not sure what the concern is.

Cereal Girl: Back in Mistral, my manager convinced me to get a… personal shopper… once my fame started to snowball.

Cereal Girl: I didn’t _want_ one when I got to Beacon, but Jaune offered to help, and honestly, the rest of our team just went along with it…

Cereal Girl: Plus… it would be bad for my popularity if I were caught buying things… unbecoming of my image.

Vomit Boy: Plus this way her sponsors can track if she actually is buying all those things her contract requires. Just as long as we turn in the receipts and her credit card transactions.

Snow Angel: Is THAT why you refuse to purchase your dust rounds from the Schnee Dust Company?

Cereal Girl: I’m sorry! But my manager arranged most of the sponsorship deals!

SunnyLittleDragon: that sounds rough p-money

Cereal Girl: Yes, I can’t even enjoy most junk food considering my sponsorships. And Pumpkin Pete’s _is_ bad for you. _Jaune_.

Vomit Boy: its a force of habit at this point! you cant just eat like fifty of those in a few months and not develop a taste for it

Snow Angel: Still, you can’t expect Jaune to get all the stuff we need. _And_ I’ve been telling someone to stock up on supplies and daily necessities for the team already. _Yang_.

SunnyLittleDragon: hey we’ve been busy

SunnyLittleDragon: also not my fault you guys need loads of stuff and im the one with the motorcycle

Snow Angel: We aren’t the ones clogging the bathroom with a million hair products!

RedLikeStrawberries: guys focus

Vomit Boy: guys focus

RedLikeStrawberries: jinx

Vomit Boy: jinx

Snow Angel: _the two of you shut up right now_

Vomit Boy: look ill manage

Vomit Boy: worst case scenario ill get your stuff sent up first on a bullhead and just try to catch the last air bus back to Beacon

Snow Angel: I wouldn’t want to impose. You’d have to go all over Vale for some of our things.

SunnyLittleDragon: meh, what the hell

SunnyLittleDragon: yo VB im tagging along, ill bring bumblebee so we can go to more places and carry more stuff. plus we can grab some pizza

SunnyLittleDragon: your treat

Vomit Boy: uhhhh

_Someone is typing…_

Vomit Boy: sure?

SunnyLittleDragon: sweet

SunnyLittleDragon: its a date then 😉

\---0---

Nora could already _imagine_ their respective partners’ frustrations at the two dense blondes and how casually they were setting a not-date. Blake hid hers well, but Nora wasn’t blind or deaf to Blake’s unsubtle attempts to connect better with Yang despite her Blake-yness, and Pyrrha, well, she probably hadn’t realized it, but you didn’t invest all that time and energy into their leader and not develop _some_ feelings… not Nora’s fault they talked about these things even in the JNPR dorm when they assumed Nora was just listening to music on her headphones!

Nora could also _imagine_ Ruby and Jaune’s private conversation, having a habit of sneaking a peek at Jaune’s scroll every now and then. Bless their leader, but he was so bad at keeping the unimportant stuff _private_ …

\---0---

_Welcome to **Lancaster!**_

Vomit Boy: c-face! we have a problem! code yellow-white dragonslayer!

Crater Face: that sounds serious, vomit boy. whats the issue?

Vomit Boy: is my life in danger if i let yang go with me?

Crater Face: depends. last guy codename: dragonslayer went out with back at signal ended up in a full-body cast

Crater Face: something about him being handsy and super macho

Crater Face: there was also this girl once, i thought it was cute but it turns out she and her posse just wanted to pull a mean prank on yang for being cooler than them or whatever

Crater Face: last i heard she had to move to vacuo. court-mandated.

Crater Face: that got all the people to stay away from Yang at least

Crater Face: but you’ll be fine, i think yang likes you

Vomit Boy: are you sure???

Crater Face: she let you braid her hair, hasnt she?

Vomit Boy: _just once!_

\---0---

Well, Nora could _imagine_ that was how things went.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW!**_

Vomit Boy: ok…?

Vomit Boy: guess ill drop by the dorms to pick you up then

SunnyLittleDragon: aight ill get everyone’s shopping list

SunnyLittleDragon: yo **Snow Angel** you getting back to the dorms soon?

Snow Angel: No.

SunnyLittleDragon: send me what you need ill make a list. ruby and blake are listing stuff down now.

SunnyLittleDragon: btw you should be honored VB you get to ride my bike

Vomit Boy: ill do my best not to throw up on your shoes?

SunnyLittleDragon: dont you _dare_

RedLikeStrawberries: oh yeah jaune

RedLikeStrawberries: make sure yang doesnt sweet talk you into buying her stuff

RedLikeStrawberries: also always check your basket she always sneaks in little things to try and get you to pay for them

SunnyLittleDragon: lies! you were the one who grabbed that magazine

Snow Angel: Also, don’t ever loan Yang any money. She always “forgets” to pay.

Big Kitty Goth GF: yeah, Yang still owes me for the other week

Snow Angel: Considering _she_ drags us to Vale every other week the least she could do is cover some of the expenses.

SunnyLittleDragon: dammit weiss cream whats a little lien between friends?

SunnyLittleDragon: besides why arent we doing that thing jnpr’s doing with their expenses?

Snow Angel: Do you _honestly_ expect me to trust a _Schnee Dust Company credit card_ to any of you? A literal fifteen-year-old, little miss xiao long time debtor, and miss spent half her childhood attacking SDC property?

Big Kitty Goth GF: dude i thought we were cool

Snow Angel: My apologies! I still have _some_ leftover resentment!

Big Kitty Goth GF: …fine

Cereal Girl: Don’t worry, everyone. Jaune makes sure to gather all the receipts and charges everyone appropriately. My manager, for all her bad sponsorship choices, is at least competent at teaching me proper fiscal management. And Jaune is a very quick study.

Vomit Boy: yeah, so just make sure you pay up to pyr

Snow Angel: I’m surprised _you_ know anything about accounting and fiscal responsibility.

Cereal Girl: Actually, Nora does all our accounting. Apparently, Ren’s bad with money? Something about wasting five hundred lien on alcohol…

SunnyLittleDragon: what

SunnyLittleDragon: nora???

RedLikeStrawberries: i think you broke yang pyrrha

Snow Angel: Nora? No offense, but _how_?

Snow Angel: I don’t intend to demean your… apparent accounting skills, but I simply have a hard time wrapping the idea around my head.

Snow Angel: Nora? Dear? Explain?

Vomit Boy: still muted

Vomit Boy: try again in forty minutes.

\---0---

Nora chuckled at that. It wasn’t like she did _taxes_. But it was true that Nora liked to be organized when it came to matters like this. Whether it be lien, her personal belongings, her trusty Magnhild… you couldn’t afford to tout a large warhammer/grenade launcher without having _some_ ability to be organized and meticulous about the little details. Otherwise, one wrong press could cause her beloved weapon to explode, and while Nora was tough, a full complement of dust grenades exploding on you was kind of a _bad idea_ …

This organizational aptitude extended even to how Nora dealt with people, and Nora prided herself on having a fairly simple way to organize the people in her life. Nora Valkyrie, after all, wasn’t a complicated person. She evaluated people through a series of very simple, uncomplicated questions, which could be boiled down to one, if in a rush: were they, or were they not, boop-worthy?

If they weren’t, then Nora either simply didn’t care for them or wanted to hurt them. This applied to people like that _terrible_ Cardin Winchester, who Nora was determined to, one day, hopefully break the legs of. She respected her leader! After all, she considered her leader boop-worthy! But it was _so_ hard to listen to his orders when Cardin was just so… un-boop-able! But, well, her Fearless Leader expressly forbade her from breaking his legs, so she just gritted her teeth, even if not doing anything for the person she was seeing more and more as the big brother she wished she had growing up (not that she didn’t appreciate Ren’s efforts, but Ren was in a special boop category of his own, even if nowadays she was considering inducting a whole mess of people in that place…) made her tremble in frustration. What even was the point of getting stronger and overcoming her fear of thunder and lightning if she couldn’t use that power? Why did she lug around the huge hammer if she couldn’t help the people that made her feel safe and secure in who she was?

(It didn’t matter, of course, that he cheated his way in. What even did _forged transcripts_ mean in a school like this?)

In any case, it was easy for Nora not to care for most people since _most people_ weren’t boop-worthy. She didn’t have anything _bad_ to say about most people, but it was hard to care for them when you know that they wouldn’t care about you in return. And she knew what that felt like, for most people to just shun you just because you wanted to survive, or worst, to _hate_ you for trying to eke out an existence, even when you were born into a life you never asked for.

That was why team JNPR was at the top of her boop-worthy list. _Ren_ occupied the top spot, obviously, but Nora had long learned that she didn’t have to hold back on the boops. For the longest time, Ren was the only one who was boop-worthy, and Nora had spent almost all her childhood holding back on what _she_ wanted, simply because she couldn’t afford to. Even when Ren took her in and the two moved from place to place, orphanage to distant relative to their own, she was always mindful of Ren and _his_ needs, and she didn’t want to be a burden on the boy, but that all changed the day he learned how to make pancakes and told her she could _eat as much as she wanted_ , that she was _allowed_ to be a little _selfish_. That was the day she decided her little mallet was going to be bigger and would double as a grenade launcher.

(Nora believed she wasn’t a selfish person, but when it came to boop-worthy people, she decided that, yes, she wanted it all. For the longest time, Ren was the only one, but when you live your whole life being hungry, it was natural you would _refuse to starve_.)

Pyrrha and Jaune were obviously on her boop-worthy list as well. Jaune was like an older brother, watching out for her if she went too far, giving her direction and channeling her energies somewhere productive, and Pyrrha was like the older sister that Nora always wanted: hypercompetent, always watched out for her, always indulged her whims… she also liked how the two were early risers but never interrupted her own sleep until it was time for breakfast and class. She _liked_ that they watched over her as she enjoyed her breakfast pancakes, liked that they made sure she was well-fed before they went to class.

(If she had one criticism of the two of them, it was that Pyrrha could be too passive for her own good and Jaune put himself down too much. Pyrrha tried, bless her, to restrain Nora when she was in one of her particular moods, and Nora always felt bad when she went too far, but she wished that sometimes Pyrrha’s assertiveness in the battlefield translated itself to normal life. Jaune would throw out his back to be of service of his team, but it hurt Nora every time he downplayed his own accomplishments, because in a way it was downplaying the positive impact Jaune had on _her_ life. If Pyrrha could learn to be more selfish with her desires, Nora felt, she’d be much happier, and as a result, Nora would be happy for her as well. If Jaune could have _some_ confidence in himself, because besides combat Jaune was a pretty good guy, Nora would be much happier. Because Pyrrha and Jaune _accepted_ her, and she wished they could accept themselves as well.)

So that was her team sorted out. Nora didn’t know what to think about the other students – not much data to judge them properly – and was certain most of the professors were safely in the not-Boop worthy category. Ozpin always drank _hot chocolate_ and pretended it was coffee, Glynda always yelled at her, Oobleck… was alright, she loved the way he talked, but he always gave difficult homework, Peach was never around… well, she supposed Professor Port was funny. Maybe half a boop?

(When she heard the knock on the door, signalling the arrival of Ruby, sheepishly asking if she could hang out with Nora since Blake sneaked off to the library to hang out with Pyrrha, Yang and Jaune had started their Vale shopping trip, and Weiss and Ren were probably off having their secret little meetings they thought nobody was aware of, Nora acquiesced. She needed to classify team RWBY anyway.)

\---0---

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW!**_

SunnyLittleDragon: man this is good pizza

_SunnyLittleDragon uploaded a photo!_

RedLikeStrawberries: pfft

Snow Angel: _Please_ try to eat like a civilized person Jaune.

RedLikeStrawberries: nora’s laughing like a maniac

Cereal Girl: That much meat and carbs cannot be healthy for you, Yang.

SunnyLittleDragon: meh i can sweat it off with some training and sparring.

SunnyLittleDragon: hey VB wanna spar sometime? i wanna see how your training w p-money is going

Vomit Boy: _Yang i am literally eating in front of you_

\---0---

Yang fell under the boop category. She never judged Nora for her habits, and she always paid attention to Nora’s stories over breakfast or lunch, even if Nora herself felt she was overdoing the storytelling sometimes. Plus, Yang was never afraid to throw down with Nora, and Nora appreciated that kind of straightforwardness. (Still, she owed Yang one fight, considering what Yang did to Ren last week…)

Plus, like Jaune, Yang’s sibling instincts extended even to her, Nora could tell. She knew Yang wasn’t fully committed to listening to her admittedly outlandish stories, but she _always_ made it look like she was paying attention, always made sure to respond to Nora, always checked up on her after every spar to see if she was alright… too many people saw Yang the brawler, saw Yang the loud punster who teased people mercilessly, saw Yang as the kind of person who would go to a bar to get drunk and start fights. Nora saw the young girl who had to grow up with nothing but her fists to fend away predatory boys and girls from her and her sister, saw the sensitive girl who forged connections with others through her bad puns and friendly ribbing to overcome the overwhelming loneliness in her heart, saw the young girl who couldn’t handle her drinks, ordered non-alcoholic Strawberry Sunrises when she thought nobody was paying attention, who had a goal she sought out with a drive and determination Nora understood, even if she didn’t know what exactly the goal _was_.

It was very easy to misunderstand Yang Xiao Long, Nora concluded, but she wasn’t about to make that mistake. Yang was worth the boop.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW**!_

Big Kitty Goth GF: look weiss nobody is saying you’re _actively_ being discriminatory

Big Kitty Goth GF: but even you have to admit some of the things you say abt mistralians and faunus can be _very_ hurtful without you realizing it

Cereal Girl: I’ve also encountered Atlesians in Argus who exhibit similar tendencies. Generally good people who mean well, just…some ingrained attitudes passed down Atlas’ own history that are _very_ hard to erase.

Cereal Girl: It’s a very touchy subject in Argus, as both Mistralians and Atlesians mingle there. The tensions can arise sometimes from the culture clash, especially after the fallout from the Great War and the ensuing tensions between different settlers.

Snow Angel: Look, I _get_ it. I’m sorry for speaking out of turn!

Snow Angel: But you can’t expect me to look at that photo Pyrrha accidentally uploaded from her cartoons and not think that Mistralians… have strange fantasies towards the Faunus!

Big Kitty Goth GF: oh boy thats sth we used to argue about back in the Fang

Big Kitty Goth GF: its a whole other can of worms

Ren-sensei: You know, Weiss.

Ren-sensei: Technically, I’m Mistralian as well.

Ren-sensei: I should _probably_ be offended by your statement.

Ren-sensei: But it’s not your fault these two enjoy watching lowbrow Mistralian entertainment _aimed at kids_ and created by lesser... Mistralian… creators, shall we say. Unfortunately, some Mistralians give the rest of us a bad name.

Cereal Girl: Ren, you are a _good_ friend, but please do not try to imply that you are inherently more Mistralian than I am. We both come from the same continent!

Ren-sensei: Yes, and everyone knows how varied culture is in Mistral. Northern Mistral is a much different beast from Southern Mistral.

Ren-sensei: It’s just very disconcerting that people from Northern Mistral would dare produce works based on Southern Mistral iconography and themes, often without a proper understanding of said iconography.

Snow Angel: Okay, now _I’m_ lost.

Big Kitty Goth GF: thats ok, ren always has this argument with me and pyr

Snow Angel: “Pyrrha and I.”

RedLikeStrawberries: gesundheit

Big Kitty Goth GF: no one ever really _wins_ these arguments, but pyr likes competing and ren can be very passionate about the weirdest things, so here we are

Vomit Boy: guys

Vomit Boy: help

Vomit Boy: yang started a fight with some weirdo twins

_Vomit Boy uploaded a video!_

Snow Angel: Jaune, why are you taking a video instead of helping???

Cereal Girl: I didn’t know ravens flew around Vale…

\---0---

By the time Jaune had uploaded the video, Ruby had already taken Jaune’s desk chair and dragged it over to Nora’s bed, not wanting to get on Ren’s bed and ruining the immaculate, well-made bed sheets, a clear sign of Ren’s discipline and proper rooming habits, and now the two had settled into a routine of watching over their scrolls while Ruby looked over Nora’s Magnhild to perform some quick maintenance. 

(There were things Nora and Ruby wanted to do to the release mechanism of Nora’s grenade launcher, something about shooting all her grenades together to form a heart shape, and Ruby was eager to modify the valkyrie’s weapon to accommodate to request, but their recent schedules prevented any extended period of maintenance at the school’s weapon workshop.)

Ruby moved to the floor, the better to fiddle with the mechashift components of Magnhild’s handle. She was aiming to make the transition from hammer to grenade launcher faster, but Jaune’s uploaded video distracted them. Not that Nora was in any rush – it was turning out to be a lazy day, and she quite liked the peaceful nature of the JNPR dorm, with just her and Ruby passing the time with no particular pressing issue in mind besides Magnhild’s potential new upgrade. Nora took the seat Ruby had abandoned and was idly messing with Ruby’s hair, trying to see if she could style it somehow, but she had to admit that she had the weakest hairstyling skills out of everyone on team JNPR.

Still, the act gave Nora time to consider the rest of team RWBY’s boop status, so she focused on that instead as her fingers caressed Ruby’s locks. (Ruby would keep quiet about how good it felt, how much it reminded her of the way Yang would mess with her hair when they were young.)

She first thought of Weiss, who she had instinctually placed in the not-boop category because of how _mean_ the girl was to her Fearless Leader, as well as her brazen attempts to suck up to Pyrrha. Weiss was either not very observant or willfully ignored how uncomfortable Pyrrha was with her hero-worship, and in the beginning it annoyed Nora how little attention Weiss seemed to pay attention to everyone else at the table when they gathered for breakfast. (What was so _fascinating_ about filing her nails, Nora wanted to scream once, but Ren somehow sensed her thoughts and put a stop to it.) Still, her Fearless Leader and her Unofficial Big Sister were cordial to Weiss, so she might as well be.

What had changed her opinions was Ren, of all people, who found something akin to a friendship to the heiress. That had forced Nora to look past the iciness, past the acerbic barbs and the grandiose view the heiress held of herself, until it _clicked_ for Nora that Weiss wasn’t going out of her way to be _mean_. And Weiss truly seemed to regret it when she said terrible things to people, like when she finally backed off from trying to appease Pyrrha (Nora suspected Ren’s influence) or when she apologized to Nora one time at breakfast for being, well, herself. (Again, she felt, Ren’s doing.)

Nowadays Nora considered Weiss very much deserving of a boop, and she felt a little guilty about only seeing the surface on the SDC heiress. Every now and then she would notice Weiss talking to _her_ , admonishing her to take her studies more seriously, or worrying about her diet, or the lack of variety in her diet, or simply raising concerns about her reckless fighting style and general demeanor. It was easy to assume that it was Weiss simply offering her disdain for Nora, but Nora understood it for what it was: she genuinely _was_ concerned for well-being... she was just supremely bad at expressing herself. She was honest, in her own Weiss way. And Nora appreciated that.

Blake was a simpler matter: after she revealed her secret, Nora could finally confirm that she was boop-worthy. She was still a little shady, especially in the way she watched over Jaune and Pyrrha during the stressful times that Jaune was distancing himself in the team, but Nora knew she meant well. Plus, Blake wasn’t dismissive of her, even if her personality suggested she would have wanted to stay as far away from Nora. Plus, Pyrrha was just so _happy_ to have a normal friend that wasn’t her teammates, especially someone she shared similar hobbies with. Plus her ears were _so cute…!_ She hoped for the day she could let her ears out in public! Nora had hoped to convince her to do it someday, preferably over breakfast.

Well, she was almost done sorting everyone into her internal boop tracker. The only one left was _Ruby_ …

\---0---

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW**!_

SunnyLittleDragon: guess who won her big fight???

Cereal Girl: What about Jaune???

RedLikeStrawberries: is jaune ok???

SunnyLittleDragon: wow p-money, wow sis, way to show concern for your big sister and your good pal

RedLikeStrawberries: oh you’re fine, you can beat whoever. jaune’s in danger!

Snow Angel: Yang Xiao Long, _please_ do not tell me that you caused any major damage to that… dining establishment.

SunnyLittleDragon: nah, me and the wonder twins took it outside after jaune begged me not to trash his favorite pizza place.

SunnyLittleDragon: plus, he paid for _everything_ , including the tables i accidentally broke. total gentleman i tell you

RedLikeStrawberries: _yang!!!_

SunnyLittleDragon: oh come on he offered!

SunnyLittleDragon: besides, he convinced the owner not to call the cops, plus he talked to the customers so we wouldnt get reported. so my criminal record’s still somewhat clean!

Big Kitty Goth GF: Somewhat?

SunnyLittleDragon: it’s a _Long_ story.

Big Kitty Goth GF: of course it is.

RedLikeStrawberries: So where are you two now???

SunnyLittleDragon: picking up your dumb strawberries and like half the things off p-money’s list. we’re gonna hit up a few more places to get the stuff weiss asked for. also, wow p-money, you make jaune buy _that_ for you?

Cereal Girl: He has seven sisters, he’s used to it.

Snow Angel: …what?

SunnyLittleDragon: don’t mind that weiss cream

RedLikeStrawberries: please don’t get into any more fights! im worried about jaune

SunnyLittleDragon: dw we should be back before curfew. also get off my back, they started it!

\---0---

Ruby was _easy_ , Nora thought as first. She was a good friend to her Fearless Leader. She was polite and friendly to team JNPR and didn’t make fun of Ren’s standoffish nature or her own personal quirks. She also treated Pyrrha normally, even if she was a little bit starstruck at how _good_ Pyrrha was at combat, as well as a bit more obsessed with Pyrrha’s javelin-and-shield combo. But Ruby was harmless.

Except for those _dust-damned silver eyes_.

Nora couldn’t trust it, nope! Clearly those were important eyes. Very few people in Remnant had silver eyes – Nora and Ren had spent too much time wandering around, and silver eyes were _astonishingly rare_ wherever they went. Clearly, those eyes held great power. What if Ruby was descended from a great and powerful lineage of magical warriors? What if Ozpin recruited her early to his school to be part of some grand plot to combat the forces of evil? What if her eyes were plot-important, whatever that meant?

Nora considered the possibilities for a second before concluding, _nope! Too silly! Too outlandish!_

(Ren always admonished Nora’s tendency to let her imagination wander off.)

Besides, silver eyes or not, Ruby was a smaller, more _honest_ soul. There simply was no malice there, and even if a part of Nora suspected deep, intricate plots involving Ruby’s silver eyes, the larger part of Nora, the part that wanted to give boops to the worthy, screamed out to her that Ruby deserved all the boops in the world. Even if she was knee-deep in Grimm blood, or testing out an incredibly dangerous warhammer/grenade launcher hybrid, she still looked like a kind and optimistic _girl_ who couldn’t hurt _anyone_ who didn’t deserve it.

Plus, Ruby brought together a team of people who, along with her own team, comprised some of the most boop-worthy people in all of Remnant. She united them through her endless optimism and kindness, and in return, they responded with their trust and loyalty. Those kinds of people were precious and rare, in Nora’s opinion. They were the kinds of people she wouldn’t mind having breakfast with.

See, Nora Valkyrie _hated_ breakfast. She had thought, for the longest time, that only Ren could make her appreciate it. But entering Beacon proved to be the best choice Ren and Nora made in a long, long, long, long time, because it was easier to look forward to breakfast when she knew she would get to see these wonderful people that she would never have met otherwise. Breakfast tasted better when she spent it with people she loved.

So she turned to Ruby, and in her most serious voice, implored:

“Ruby, I need a favor.”

\---0---

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW**!_

Vomit Boy: **SunnyLittleDragon** where the heck are you???

Vomit Boy: im abt to pay for everything already

SunnyLittleDragon: hang on VB im looking for some ladies stuff

Vomit Boy: i keep telling you, theres a place a few blocks away that sells everything you guys need

SunnyLittleDragon: how do you know this

SunnyLittleDragon: you know what, never mind VB, I don’t wanna know how you know

Vomit Boy: did you at least get the stuff i asked you to get? thats mostly weiss and blake stuff

SunnyLittleDragon: uhhhhhhh

SunnyLittleDragon: this is the tuna blake likes, right?

_SunnyLittleDragon uploaded a photo!_

Big Kitty Goth GF: yang, not that stuff! that stuff’s bad!

SunnyLittleDragon: why are you even making me buy more tuna? jaune said the pantry was still full of it!

Big Kitty Goth GF: that’s emergency tuna! this is the good stuff!

Snow Angel: Yang, what even is the point of you going with Jaune if you won’t contribute to the actual work?

RedLikeStrawberries: yeah, maybe i should have gone with you guys to keep an eye on you

Ren-sensei: I apologize, Jaune. Perhaps I should have made the time to go with you instead.

SunnyLittleDragon: screw you guys, im a great shopping buddy!

SunnyLittleDragon: at least i let VB ride bitch on my bike

Cereal Girl: Now, now, everyone, I’m sure Yang is contributing something to all of this.

SunnyLittleDragon: _thank you p-money_

Cereal Girl: …even if it’s taking Jaune considerably more time to finish this little grocery run.

SunnyLittleDragon: _rude_

_Queen of the Castle’s mute has expired!_

Queen of the Castle: HA! I’M FREE!

Queen of the Castle: And for my next proclamation…

_Queen of the Castle played a video over the chat!_

Snow Angel: What the…

Big Kitty Goth GF: why cant I pause the video

Cereal Girl: Why can’t I lower the volume?

Big Kitty Goth GF: _nora we’re in the library_

Snow Angel: Nora, _please_ , now is not the time!

Snow Angel: Ruby, do something!

RedLikeStrawberries: cant, im fixing Magnhild

_Queen of the Castle **booped** Ren-sensei!_

Queen of the Castle: **_boop boop_**

Queen of the Castle: **_boop boop_**

Ren-sensei: Nora, were the additional sound effects necessary?

Queen of the Castle: That makes them _special!_

_Queen of the Castle **booped** Vomit Boy!_

_Queen of the Castle **booped** Cereal Girl!_

Cereal Girl: Nora, not that I don't appreciate the gesture, but our scrolls are making too much noise!

Big Kitty Goth GF: _why cant I silence my scroll_

_Queen of the Castle **booped** SunnyLittleDragon!_

SunnyLittleDragon: ok what the hell

_Queen of the Castle **booped** Snow Angel!_

_Queen of the Castle **booped** Big Kitty Goth GF!_

Queen of the Castle: **boop boop**

Queen of the Castle: **boop boop**

_Queen of the Castle is now muted!_

_Vomit Boy stopped playing the video!_

Vomit Boy: ruby, stop letting Nora mess with the chat settings!

\---0---

Nora and Ruby shared a quick laugh as everyone in the chat screamed expletives and panicked at the general chaos of Nora’s (technically Ruby’s) new additions to the chat commands. Ruby had actually started laughing so hard at everyone’s panic that she began rolling on the floor. Nora saw this as her opportunity.

Nora reached out to touch Ruby’s nose.

_boop_

She was looking forward to tomorrow’s breakfast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personally, I fucking love Nora as a character, but it’s so easy to turn her into a one-dimensional joke. Hence why I like writing her with these details. Anything to differentiate her from other Nora depictions! The best versions of Nora are like Boop: the sudden shifts in tempo, mood, and style capture her complexity well. And all throughout, her overwhelming ability to just love people shines through.
> 
> On an unrelated note, I don’t get why some people like writing Jaune and Yang as barely acquaintances from their time in Beacon. I get it sometimes for Dragonslayer fics, because it’s a good excuse for either to initiate contact with the other post the Fall of Beacon, but something about their dynamic just makes me feel like they swap the older sibling role in the group around depending on who needs to be babied more at any particular time. (Incidentally, I love that small panel from the DC comic where Yang braids Jaune’s hair). Maybe I’m just being weird?


	5. Volume 1.5 (Friday): please dont, i happen to like my legs and spine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied. The summer rerun event is easy to grind when you’re averaging +20 mat drops per run. Anyway, changed something about the titles of each chapters to better reflect the schema I have for all the major ‘arcs’ of this story. For the record, we’re in the introduction arc. Expect… two more chapters for this arc, then a couple of interludes, before we head to Volume 2.5 territory?
> 
> Have an extra-long Weiss chapter, because as we all know she sneaks the treats; ergo, she is the best girl. 😊 Best girls deserve long chapters!

_Welcome to **Pollination!**_

BFF: Has anyone seen my binder?

Team Leader: nope

Sister: nope

Sister From Another Mister: nope

Sister: this is like the fifth time you asked this today weiss

BFF: Unbelievable.

BFF: It was just on my desk!

BFF: You’re telling me that none of you saw it this morning?

Team Leader: no me and Yang woke up late today, remember?

BFF: “Yang and I.”

Team Leader: Bless you.

Sister From Another Mister: weiss, why are you worrying about your binder right now

Sister From Another Mister: shouldn’t you focus on class instead of being distracted by… this? we’re in the middle of history with oobleck.

Team Leader: _Doctor_ Oobleck!

Sister From Another Mister: if he catches you using your scroll in the middle of class that’s even more detention

Sister: yeah you don’t want to be VB and ren right now trust me

Sister: im surprised theyre keeping up with oobleck while doing the TA thing

Team Leader: i think jaune’s falling asleep actually

Team Leader: how you can do that while operating the screens i don’t know

Sister From Another Mister: thats what he gets for staying up late all night

Sister: doing what??? he said he was tired after we got back!

Team Leader: anyone would be after what you pulled

Sister: i said i was sorry!

BFF: Everyone! _Please!_

BFF: I need that binder! All our preparations for the Vytal Festival are noted there!

Team Leader: pfft itll be fine

Team Leader: besides as team leader i should be the one preparing the documents

Team Leader: learned that in leadership class

BFF: Oh, _please_ , as if I can rely on you to properly chart and organize all the Vytal Festival documentation for our team.

BFF: Knowing you, you probably pawned it off on that idiot Jaune

Sister: rude weiss

Sister From Another Mister: yeah thats p harsh

Team Leader: its ok! she didnt mean it

Team Leader: shes just showing us she cares 😊

Sister: still not a nice thing to say to you _or_ VB sis

\---0---

 _It probably isn’t_ , Weiss agreed in her head. But like so many things she had wanted to say, it sounded… marginally better in her head. It was not in her nature to belittle people (really!), even ones who were _clearly_ in the wrong, like her Team Leader or her incompetent best friend. (Weiss never truly believed Ruby’s claims that she and the strawberry reaper were… _ugh_ , BFFs, not when Ruby and Jaune were so obviously good friends it was nauseating. She wasn’t jealous, though! She wasn’t envious of their close bond, the way they easily gravitated towards each other, or the way they got along as if they could read each other’s minds, swapping jokes and insulting each other without accidentally hurting the other’s feelings, even if Weiss never really _had_ a friend like that before, with the closest people in her life being her _elder sister_ and her _butler_. And Weiss had a sinking feeling both were obligated to like her!) No, she never meant to demean anyone, even those who were so clearly _inferior_ to her. She was a _Schnee_. She had to be _perfect_. She wasn’t, she admitted that, not yet, anyway. But she was leagues better than most of them!

_Am I, though?_

Weiss shook her head, realizing that she was missing most of Oobleck’s rapid-fire lecture. Her notes were hopelessly behind Oobleck’s outline (meticulously prepared by, of all people, Ruby and Jaune, during one of their many detentions of the week) and so she gave up, hoping to borrow Pyrrha’s notes after class instead. At least that gave her an opportunity to talk to Pyrrha…

Thinking about Pyrrha made Weiss pause. She could admit, in rare moments of honesty, that she probably was coming on to Pyrrha too strong sometimes. But she couldn’t help it if she admired Pyrrha, who was just the most _perfect_ individual she had ever met. Studious, incredibly skilled, polite to everyone, an international celebrity with nary the scandal to her name… she had even deigned to care for Weiss and her emotional instability last weekend during the whole Blake mess! (Weiss did her best to ignore Jaune’s presence, of course.) And she did it with such ease that Weiss suspected everything came naturally to the Mistralian champion. (Not like her, who still needed a lot of practice to master _one_ part of her semblance, never mind something like summoning…) Now if only she could have been partnered to the Amazon, instead of that _buffoon_ she called a partner, then they would have been perfect! At least Weiss wouldn’t waste Pyrrha’s time! Poor Pyrrha certainly must be frustrated, having to drill in the most basic of the basics of combat to her partner!

(Much, much later, admitting this to Jaune made him laugh harder than Weiss had ever seen from the boy. And yet Weiss couldn’t ignore the wistful look in his eyes.)

 _No, no, I should stop thinking like this_. Ren had, during one of their little meetings, explained to her that Pyrrha was uncomfortable with this kind of hero-worship. To her horror, Weiss realized, she was acting so much like a _stupid fan_ instead of Pyrrha’s peer and equal. She had sworn, both to Ren and herself, that she would do better.

(But that was the problem, wasn’t it? Weiss always swore to herself to do better, to be closer to perfect. She _tried_. But sometimes, it felt like her best wasn’t _good enough_. And how often did she slip back into old habits she swore never to do again, like accidentally insulting the people around her without making the effort to understand their position? It was difficult, _soul-crushing_ even, to realize that, for all her grandstanding, she just wasn’t _good enough_. Not good enough to properly utilize her glyphs, not good enough to summon, not good enough to fight off a boarbatusk without her leader’s advice, not good enough to be a decent friend to her friends. How did she have the gall to consider herself anywhere close to perfect?)

Her thoughts a complete mess, Weiss abandoned her history notes and glanced at the unsent message to Blake she had begun drafting after her conversation with Ren the other day.

\---0---

_Welcome to the beginning of the **Blake Belladonna** and **Weiss Schnee** group!_

_Send your first message here!_

Weiss Schnee: Good morning, Blake. May we perhaps talk after class? I wish to resolve the lingering tensions between us and facilitate proper teammate etiquette. We may not _agree_ on everything, but as teammates, I feel it is appropriate that we find a way to work together and move past our previous interactions…

\---0---

 _No, this is too dry and formal_ , Weiss reprimanded herself. She deleted the entire message she had typed and started drafting alternate takes, but each one sounded less like an apology with the appropriate conciliatory tone and more like the typical Weiss everyone knew, with the haughty, _Ice Queen_ tone and the subtle put-downs of the other person’s personality. Her intention was to _apologize_ , for Dust’s sake! Why were her messages sounding more and more like she was setting a business meeting? And _why_ in the name of the Brothers couldn’t she admit, even in a written message, that she was in the wrong?

At some point, she had to tell herself to stop worrying about the message, because she had other things to focus on, like her planned solo training exercise later that afternoon to work on some new glyphs (she was _so_ close to mastering that dust-damned Time Dilation glyph, and _maybe_ start working on the summoning glyph soon…), so much so that Yang had to nudge Weiss out of her concentration to inform her that class had ended. That was, in retrospect, a sign of things to come, as Weiss found herself sleepwalking her way through lunch and ignoring the rest of her classes that day.

And she _still_ didn’t find her binder!

\---0---

 _Welcome to_ **_White Lotus_ ** _!_

Lie Ren: Good afternoon, Weiss.

Lie Ren: I can’t help but notice you were distracted at lunch today.

Lie Ren: Did you… misplace your nail file?

Weiss Schnee: Huh?

Weiss Schnee: Wait, was that a joke?

Lie Ren: Yes. Was… was it in poor taste?

Weiss Schnee: No, no! I was just surprised. I rarely… see you crack any jokes.

Weiss Schnee: It just took me off guard.

Weiss Schnee: My apologies. You’re allowed to make jokes, after all.

Lie Ren: I see.

Lie Ren: Even my own team is shocked when I make jokes.

Lie Ren: Nora has suggested I try to make them more often. So far it has achieved mixed success.

Lie Ren: Did you know that Jaune and Pyrrha are bad at hiding it when they force themselves to laugh?

Lie Ren: It can be very disheartening, but I do appreciate how those two are humoring me, despite how dry I can be at times.

_Someone is typing…_

Lie Ren: I fear I might be rambling. I’ll leave you to your own thoughts.

Weiss Schnee: No, no! It’s fine. I’m just… it’s not been a good day for me.

Weiss Schnee: First I lost my binder, and then I fail to take any proper notes for the rest of my classes, and I don’t think my training with my glyphs is progressing well enough… please remind me to work on that later today.

Weiss Schnee: Which reminds me, I should ask Pyrrha to borrow her notes from History. I think Nora and I also shared a class today, perhaps I could ask her… I’ve been meaning to talk to her as well…

Lie Ren: I won’t stop you if that is what you wish.

Lie Ren: But are you sure you aren’t ignoring anything else you need to do?

\---0---

It wasn’t often, but ever since getting to know Ren better, Weiss had made it a point to talk to Nora a bit more. In another move that made Weiss hate how she acted at the beginning of the semester, she had dismissed Nora fairly quickly into the sister teams’ association, ignoring her outlandish, dream-fueled ramblings she shared during their breakfasts and lunches. She wasn’t ignorant of the girls’ skills – she had watched Nora act as the powerhouse of the team during initiation, landing the killing blow on the Deathstalker that was giving the combined teams much trouble earlier that day, after all. But the girl’s hyperactive energy and enthusiasm didn’t sit well with Weiss, who felt that she had to carry herself in a prim and proper way.

(There was a part of her who was envious of the kind of freedom that people like Yang and Nora exhibited, but Weiss was adept at ignoring her own desires in the pursuit of perfection.)

Still, at some point, familiarity trumped her prejudices, and Weiss, with some prompting from Ren, began piecing together bits of Nora and Ren’s shared history from the confused jumble of stories Nora eagerly shared (and Ren helpfully edited and translated for the rest.) She soon realized that the two were orphans and had spent most of their youth looking out for one another. Ren seemed to exhibit a more well-to-do upbringing, but unlike Weiss, seemed to have adjusted to a more modest lifestyle, his poor sense for Lien notwithstanding (it certainly explained why _Nora_ was the one handling hers and Ren’s stipends, and the recent revelation that Nora was responsible for balancing team JNPR’s finances went a long way in explaining the dynamic between Nora and Ren) which, combined with Nora’s allusions to growing up in poverty, made Weiss feel ashamed for her callow dismissal of the pink-haired girl.

It was another reminder that Weiss, for all the loneliness and alienation she experienced growing up, was still a privileged and sheltered girl. It was easy to feel sorry for herself because she had an alcoholic mother who neglected her for most of her life and a father who treated her more like a trophy to show off to other people. But some people didn’t get the live the life of luxury she lived and meeting all these people at Beacon forced her to confront her own privilege. Nora and Ren for example, reminded her that more people led harder lives than her, that some people grew up unsure of where to get their next meal or if they could even have a roof above their heads.

But it was meeting someone like Blake that drove that point about privilege home. Yes, the White Fang _did_ commit acts of vandalism, sabotage, and even at times, murder, towards the SDC and its personnel, but a lot of it _was_ borne out of genuine desperation at the cruel treatment of the Faunus, especially in Atlas, most of it due to her father’s callous business practices. Weiss had always claimed she never had anything against the Faunus, just the White Fang for what it did to her family, but recent events told her much about how privileged a position that was. How easy was it for her to slip into hatred for the Faunus as a whole, when in her head she only denounced the White Fang’s actions? It was that damned tendency of hers to demean others without _meaning_ to. She couldn’t claim to want to reform the SDC and treat the Faunus working for the company better if she didn’t understand why someone would take up the political position the White Fang did (even if they were committing terrorist acts). She wasn’t about to accept that the current White Fang were in the right, but they had a _point_.

_So why is it so hard for me to just message Blake?!_

The question remained unanswered all afternoon, even as Weiss and Nora dutifully performed their detention duties for the day. At least it was the last day they had to do this. And Weiss _was_ able to borrow Nora’s notes, as messy as they were… she was beginning to feel like she needed to have a proper _talk_ with the girl – at least it was easier than finding her dust-damned binder, she thought to herself.

Weiss took out a pen and began marking Nora’s notes, writing down detailed instructions and observations on how to improve Nora’s study habits and note-taking skills. Training her glyphs could wait…

\---0---

_Welcome to **Nordic Winter**!_

Ice Queen: Good evening, Nora.

Ice Queen: I took the time to look over your notes from class today. Thank you for lending them to me.

Ice Queen: However, I do have some… criticism and comments I’d like to suggest.

Ice Queen: For better organization of your notes, of course. It would probably be more effective if I expressed them in person… whenever you are free, of course.

Thunder Thighs: WEISS

Thunder Thighs: Hey, Weiss!

Thunder Thighs: Didn’t see you at the training grounds today! It’s like you just disappeared after we finished detention stuff!

Ice Queen: Oh?

Ice Queen: I’m sorry, I just had a lot on my mind.

Thunder Thighs: Also, the rest of us are about to meet up for dinner! Where are you?

Ice Queen: Looking over your notes and fixing my own. Also, I’m still looking for my binder.

 _Someone is typing_ …

Thunder Thighs: Sorry! I told Ren that you were still looking for your binder.

Thunder Thighs: He asked me to remind you that, um…

Thunder Thighs: Something about a training session you were planning to do? Something for you to work on? Ren says that you should probably focus on what you need to do instead of using your binder as an excuse to put it off.

Ice Queen: I…see?

Ice Queen: In any case, I merely wanted to inform you of how disorganized your notetaking is. We’ve talked about this in the past!

Ice Queen: Also, I _still_ need to admonish you for that stunt you pulled yesterday. It was mortifying, having that infernal song playing in the middle of the assembly!

Thunder Thighs: I said I was sorry!

_Thunder Thighs **booped** Ice Queen!_

Ice Queen: Gah!

Ice Queen: At least the sound effect isn’t as intrusive now, I suppose…

Ice Queen: Nevertheless, I’ve been repeatedly trying to tell you to be a bit more… proper. If only for Ren’s sake! Surely you must know how much stress you bring to the poor boy!

Thunder Thighs: I _know,_ Weissy! I promise I won’t do it again!

Thunder Thighs: Oh, but you don’t have to make up all these excuses if you wanna hang out!

Ice Queen: I’m not sure what you’re implying here, Nora.

Thunder Thighs: If you just want to chill with the cool kids, you’re always welcome in Team JNPR’s dorm! No need for all this correcting my notes nonsense!

Thunder Thighs: Seriously, Weiss! We’re friends! Why do you have to justify yourself to me?

_Thunder Thighs **booped** Ice Queen!_

Thunder Thighs: Still, thanks for the concern! I know you mean well, and this is just how you show us you care! 😊

\---0---

(Weiss wasn’t smiling at Nora’s comments. _She wasn’t!_ )

Weiss had to admit that she been putting off her glyph training for the past week, and that Ren’s offhand reminder bothered her more than it should. Part of it was that she didn’t _want_ to think about the lack of progress with her semblance (not when she needed her binder!) because there were more pressing concerns, like her class notes and how she needed to ensure Nora’s own note-taking habits were improved in the future. There was also the unfinished message, but that could wait! Plus, they didn’t really have _time_ to do any training or sparring, since the teachers were running them ragged with their detention slash unpaid internship for the school!

(Except that was false, and Weiss knew it. Everyone else found the time to sneak in some training, whether by going for late-night training sessions before the training grounds were closed, or just doing their own drills or spars in the mornings. _And_ they had other hobbies they indulged in during the day. What was her excuse? All she did was study and fuss over other people. Hell, even _Jaune_ managed to do more training, either with Pyrrha at night, or on his own. And Blake’s veiled hints about what Jaune did late at night certainly put her in a bad mood, because if the idiot was staying up to try and catch up to his studies, why was she actively trying to avoid doing the same?)

Well, there was still time to catch everyone at dinner, and Weiss _did_ want a chance to talk to Pyrrha and borrow her notes, perhaps even convince Pyrrha to spar with her. The binder could wait! It wasn’t like she was forgetting to do anything else she had to do!

\---0---

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW!**_

RedLikeStrawberries: ok so hear me out

RedLikeStrawberries: weapons are an extensions of ourselves, right? they’re a part of us

RedLikeStrawberries: meanwhile, semblances are expressions of who we are as individuals

RedLikeStrawberries: that means that your weapon and your semblance _need_ to be in sync!

Ren-sensei: Sure, but not every hunter knows their semblance or has the lien as well as the skills to design a unique weapon suited for semblance.

Ren-sensei: Plus, not everyone has a semblance suited for combat.

Ren-sensei: I know students from your combat school design their own weapons, but that’s not true for most hunters or hunters-in-training.

Queen of the Castle: We’re lucky Ren knew a local blacksmith who helped design and build StormFlower and Magnhild!

Big Kitty Goth GF: to be fair i think ruby has a point

Big Kitty Goth GF: i was already working with an early version of gambol shroud before I unlocked my semblance. it was mostly just a katana at first.

Big Kitty Goth GF: when i unlocked my semblance, my movement options grew a lot so i asked for help to redesign gambol

RedLikeStrawberries: is that when you added the ribbon?

Big Kitty Goth GF: yeah, and turned the sheathe into a cleaver design, since i needed more damage and my semblance wasnt providing that

Big Kitty Goth GF: plus i needed some dust mechanisms to use with Shadow, so i added the pistol and had dust cartridges installed on gambol

RedLikeStrawberries: well, i designed my Crescent Rose because scythes and sniper rifles are _cool_

RedLikeStrawberries: but it honestly works well with my semblance. uncle qrow uses his scythe more as a sword since he can’t dash around as much as i can

RedLikeStrawberries: meanwhile the recoil from the sniper mode works well with movement _and_ extra power since im not strong enough cut through Grimm hide with just my own strength

Queen of the Castle: So how come Yang just has Ember Celica, if you can design way more complicated stuff?

RedLikeStrawberries: well, signal students are meant to design their own weapons, and Yang already got a lot of hand to hand training from dad. so when she unlocked her semblance it just made sense to just let her have the gauntlets. most of the design was her throwing ideas and me trying to make em simple

RedLikeStrawberries: plus yang has like no eye for maintenance. would you want to hand something complicated for her to fuss over? ember celica’s like, really easy to maintain. no threats of yang’s arm getting like, blown off. i wouldnt want to imagine Yang with a robot arm!

Ren-sensei: Well, Nora’s Magnhild is more shock resistant to account for her semblance, but I didn’t pick StormFlower to suit my own semblance. Admittedly, I just chose a weapon that felt practical.

RedLikeStrawberries: well, StormFlower _is_ fairly simple and the upkeep’s easy

RedLikeStrawberries: lacks stopping power though

Ren-sensei: Yes, but Nora swings a giant hammer around and shoots grenades at Grimm.

Ren-sensei: I don’t feel the need to compete with her on that front.

RedLikeStrawberries: ohhhh

RedLikeStrawberries: so instead of choosing your weapon based on your semblance, you based it on the role you and your partner occupy?

Ren-sensei: That’s a good way to look at it.

Vomit Boy: man, at least you guys know what your semblances are

Vomit Boy: hard to decide what your weapon should be otherwise.

Vomit Boy: although i wouldnt want to ignore the reliable sword and shield

RedLikeStrawberries: i keep telling you, we can at least add a gun to your shield

Vomit Boy: thats a bad idea! i block with my shield! what if the dust rounds explode or something?

RedLikeStrawberries: dust doesnt work like that dum-dum!

Vomit Boy: i wouldn’t know! they don’t teach you stuff like this in regular schools

Vomit Boy: besides, i have terrible aim! remember when you let me shoot Crescent Rose?

RedLikeStrawberries: she’s different and you know it! she only responds to my touch!

RedLikeStrawberries: look, i can design a mechashift function for crocea mors so you at least have a ranged option! im thinking we can add some dust stuff for your shield too, im imagining great things with gravity and hard-light dust…

Vomit Boy: ok that i kind of get, but isnt hard-light dust kind of hard to get outside of uh… atlas? i think. that’s what they say in the textbooks

Vomit Boy: plus that sounds expensive! theres a reason only weiss can use that much dust regularly

Big Kitty Goth GF: well someones been paying more attention to Dust Studies

Vomit Boy: blake i literally only learned how to use dust as a weapon when i got to beacon, i need to catch up to everyone and learn this stuff

Ren-sensei: Ruby makes a good point, though. There is no harm in having more options to your weaponry. A ranged option adds more battlefield tactics at our disposal.

Vomit Boy: i am not wasting our ammunition and weapon maintenance budget just so i can add a gun I can barely use to crocea mors! not when i can barely use my sword effectively as is!

Vomit Boy: besides, nora’s grenades eat up like half our budget already

Vomit Boy: we’re lucky pyr has sponsorship deals for her dust rounds and weapon maintenance, and team JNPR gets discounts from em

Vomit Boy: that way we can afford half the stuff nora and pyr do with their weapons

RedLikeStrawberries: speaking of, i still have to finish filling out our requisition form. Hey **Snow Angel** did you give me the dust list already?

Queen of the Castle: Oooh, you’re not making Fearless Leader do it this time?

Queen of the Castle: Or are you worried he’ll mess up your dust orders?

RedLikeStrawberries: no weiss and yang are getting on my case about making jaune do everything

RedLikeStrawberries: besides our team uses way more types of dust than you guys, i cant make jaune worry about all that when me and weiss use a lot of specialized dust

Vomit Boy: true, only specialized thing we usually get is nora’s lightning dust and the grenades

RedLikeStrawberries: also weiss tends to use stuff we can only get from the SDC, and we get good deals buying from em bc you know

RedLikeStrawberries: SDC princess

Big Kitty Goth GF: heiress, actually

RedLikeStrawberries: although weiss has seriously been slacking on managing our dust stuff lately

RedLikeStrawberries: i checked out myrtenaster today and shes running low on her dust vials and her poor rapier’s not being maintained right

RedLikeStrawberries: where is weiss anyway havent seen her since dinner

RedLikeStrawberries: she didnt eat yet right

_SunnyLittleDragon uploaded a streaming video!_

_SunnyLittleDragon played a video over the chat!_

SunnyLittleDragon: oh man guys check this out

SunnyLittleDragon: p-money’s schooling weiss-cream so hard

RedLikeStrawberries: where are you yang???

SunnyLittleDragon: training grounds watching pyrrha and weiss spar

Queen of the Castle: So that’s where Weiss and Pyrrha went after dinner!

Big Kitty Goth GF: Should Pyrrha be sparring right now? She just had dinner.

Queen of the Castle: That’s ok, she eats really light for dinner. If it wasn’t for Jaune begging her to eat more, she’d probably just have a salad and soup every night!

_Someone is typing…_

Ren-sensei: Oh dear.

Big Kitty Goth GF: i knew pyrrha’s like this fighting prodigy but some of those moves…wow

Queen of the Castle: WOOOOOO

Queen of the Castle: You go, sister! Kick the Ice Queen where the sun don’t shine!

Queen of the Castle: Team JNPR represent!

Vomit Boy: nora! dont be mean to weiss

RedLikeStrawberries: **Snow Angel** use your dust! you should have enough to keep pyrrha away!!!

SunnyLittleDragon: she cant hear you from here rubes

Ren-sensei: It’s true, though. I’m not sure why Weiss seems insistent on using her swordplay to match Pyrrha’s.

Ren-sensei: Would it not be more prudent to use her dust to overwhelm Pyrrha? She can’t use her semblance to block dust as easily.

RedLikeStrawberries: also, weiss prolly shouldnt be using Mysternaster to clash with Pyrrha’s Miló, considering either the javelin or xiphos forms can snap weiss’ rapier in half

Ren-sensei: And Akuo can defend from Mysternaster’s thrust strikes as well.

Big Kitty Goth GF: yeah this looks like it for weiss

 _Someone is typing_ …

RedLikeStrawberries: huh, i dont recognize that glyph weiss tried to use

RedLikeStrawberries: not sure why her body froze up after that initial flurry though

Big Kitty Goth GF: welp there goes Weiss’ aura

Vomit Boy: wait, watch this. pyr told me she hasn’t gotten a chance to do this in a while.

_Someone is typing…_

Ren-sensei: That was a very well-executed series of moves, **Cereal Girl**.

Queen of the Castle: That last combo was **sick**! I didn’t know you could do all that in mid-air!

_SunnyLittleDragon stopped streaming a video!_

SunnyLittleDragon: yeah using her shield to propel herself off the air and keep on wailing at Weiss was _so cool_

SunnyLittleDragon: man i rly wanna spar with p-money one of these days now

SunnyLittleDragon: maybe i can beat you up in a spar enough that p-money steps in to defend your honor VB

Vomit Boy: please dont, i happen to like my legs and spine

\---0---

 _Okay, so that sucked_.

While it was conventional knowledge that Aura healed external injuries to a certain extent, it wasn’t some magical, cure-all solution to pain. Aura patched up wounds, sure, but unless you were some freak of nature with stupidly large aura reserves, Aura wasn’t enough to get rid of all the cuts and bruises one accumulated throughout a fight. And even if it did, theoretically, do that, the _pain_ would still linger. All Aura did was mitigate the damage. Weiss was many things, but her Aura supply was perfectly average, and her mastery of her semblance was such that her Aura usage was still not as efficient as it could have been.

Which is why her entire body was still wracked in pain.

She spent almost thirty minutes in the showers, allowing the extremely cold water to try and soothe the burning sensation of her muscles. Her entire body reacted violently to every single step and sudden movement she made, and even the simple act of scrubbing her body and rinsing it proved difficult. She could feel an acute pain from at least three different joints, an uncomfortable crick in her neck, her arms bruised and battered from Pyrrha’s savage strikes, her legs feeling like jelly, and her heartbeat still irregular and frantic.

Weiss chided herself, internally, for that last, desperate move she did, which led to most of the pain she was currently feeling. She knew that she was at a disadvantage from the start – Pyrrha could easily overpower her strikes, and her mastery over her own body far surpassed Weiss. Weiss _knew_ she didn’t stand much of a chance exchanging blows with the Mistralian Champion, although Weiss hoped that her glyphs would even out the odds. Instead, Pyrrha relentlessly broke down Weiss’ defenses, never her strongest suit, forcing Weiss to absorb numerous punishing blows. She had hoped to turn the tide with her Time Dilation glyphs, even if her practice with it had yielded little positive results in the past.

To her surprise, she was able to properly activate the Time Dilation glyph, the first time she had done so in a while, and especially the first time she did in a combat environment. Previous activations of the glyph were limited by her access to Lightning dust, which wasn’t always the easiest dust to acquire, so she didn’t get to practice the glyph as much as she wanted, but the few times she was able to activate it properly took a lot of concentration and effort. The end result, a powerful glyph that boosted her speed and reaction times to almost superhuman levels, seemed almost worth the expense, but the drawbacks of the glyph proved deadly: while the Time Dilation glyph increased her body’s movement speed and her mind’s processing ability, the same was not true for when the effects of the glyph wore off. She was especially vulnerable in the few seconds it took for her mind to catch up to her body when the time dilation wore of, causing her to slow down considerably. Too many times did she feel herself stop in the middle of an attack sequence thanks to her body physically slowing down and her mind failing to consider the change in speed that the body was experiencing. If she had to describe it, it was like her body was submerged in molasses, refusing to act as her mind dictated.

Still, Weiss felt, the adrenaline rush of defending against Pyrrha’s assault must have given her the push to successfully use her Time Dilation in live combat. There simply wasn’t any opportunity for her to panic and overthink her glyphs when that beast of a fighter came down towards her like a rampaging warrior of old, and her body moved on its own to summon the glyph. For a few seconds, she felt she was keeping up with Pyrrha Nikos, famed four-time Mistralian Regional Championship winner and quite possibly the strongest fighter Beacon had seen in _years_.

Until she felt her body slow down, and she was unable to react when Pyrrha noticed this and prepared her counterattack.

 _That_ was the most painful part.

Weiss left the showers and sat on a bench in front of her locker, allowing the cold water to drip in the floor. She felt no energy in her arms, still throbbing slightly with exertion, and she was unable to lift them without effort. Pyrrha had checked up on her after their fight, but Weiss simply gritted her teeth and told Pyrrha she was fine, causing the red-haired warrior to accept her words and leave her be. Instead, she suffered her pain on her own. She didn’t need any help. She didn’t _want_ any help!

Pyrrha must have been in far more difficult fights than this, Weiss argued in her mind. You didn’t become a multiple time champion by fighting weak opponents. Yang’s semblance meant she won most of her fights after taking an obscene amount of damage. Who knows what kind of life Nora and Ren led that turned them into the fighters they were now? (Gods, how did Nora even discover how her semblance worked? Did she _actually_ get struck by lightning on accident?) Blake must have been in hundreds of fights for her life during her time in the White Fang, each one far more difficult and dangerous than this spar held in a controlled environment against a fighter who, despite all her skill, was still holding back on her. Her toughest fight was against that damned Arma Gigas, and that was in a controlled environment. If she lost, she still had a home to come back to. Compared to the others, she had it _easy_.

Weiss rarely felt the need to cry. And she certainly didn’t want to start now, not when it was just a little pain and exhaustion from a spar she lost badly. Her physical pain certainly couldn’t equate to the pain the rest of her friends carried. Most of the people in her new life had suffered much more pain, both physical and emotional. Ruby and Yang lost their mom. Ren and Nora didn’t have parents anymore. Blake was born a Faunus, and Dust knew how much their race suffered. Compared to them, what did she, poor little miss heiress of the SDC, need to cry about? Who was she to complain? She had been spared so much pain, having been born with all she needed.

 _Funny. Just like my songs_ , she laughed in her head. Even that mental laugh hurt.

Gods, but did she want to cry. She couldn’t even do a simple thing like use her glyphs right. Or find a stupid binder. Or compose a dust-damned message, or admit she was wrong. Even her one act of independence, defeating that damned Arma Gigas for the chance to study in Beacon, left a scar on her eye, an eternal reminder of her weakness, her inability to overcome her trial on her own strength. And it wasn’t even like she was _actually_ independent! She still relied on Daddy’s dust to defeat the Arma Gigas, for gods’ sake!

More and more, Weiss realized, she hated how her semblance was _hereditary_. If a semblance was the representation of one’s individuality, what did it mean that hers was tied to the Schnee legacy? She was proud of the Schnee name, the name her grandfather made powerful, but it seemed like the name was a curse as much as it was a blessing. She was the heiress of the SDC. Her semblance was passed down the family like an inheritance. It possessed much power that she could tap into if she were willing to put in the effort. She led a privileged life, she had all she could ever want. All because she was a Schnee.

Where did that leave _Weiss_ though? What did _Weiss_ have to herself?

Weiss grunted in pain, the water dripping down her face feeling oddly warm. She didn’t feel like talking to her team right now.

\---0---

 _Welcome to the **Weiss Schnee**_ _and **Pyrrha Nikos** group!_

Pyrrha Nikos: Weiss?

Pyrrha Nikos: Ruby told me you haven’t returned to the dorms yet, and that you haven’t been responding to everyone’s messages.

Weiss Schnee: No need to worry. Just reviewing our combat footage to spot my mistakes. Also, I’m still looking for my binder.

Pyrrha Nikos: Right. I’ll make sure to inform Ruby not to worry.

_Someone is typing…_

Pyrrha Nikos: Still, it wouldn’t hurt to inform everyone before you go missing. Everyone was worried for a bit. I had to stop the rest of my team from enacting Operation Find Weiss Schnee.

Weiss Schnee: …what?

Pyrrha Nikos: We have protocols for locating everyone in our little group in case someone goes missing. With different permutations, different combinations of people shared between our two teams, for the different scenarios where one or more of our circle disappear, as well as different reasons as to why they go missing. Jaune was working on it on and off throughout the semester, but Blake running away motivated him enough to complete it. The previous weekend was actually our first time enacting those protocols.

Pyrrha Nikos: It’s part of our team tactics document he’s been drafting all semester. I had to ask Blake to read over most of it. Reading quickly isn’t a strong suit of mine, unfortunately.

Weiss Schnee: I find that difficult to believe.

Weiss Schnee: I couldn’t imagine you struggling with anything.

Pyrrha Nikos: Well, this is me struggling. I have a hard time reading quickly, especially with things like strategy and combat tactics.

Pyrrha Nikos: My old tutor and trainer said I was the type that learned easier with my body. I didn’t know how to fight well when my trainer talked me through it, but I picked it up once he started sparring with me seriously. Things just _clicked_ , you know?

Pyrrha Nikos: It was difficult at first, training Jaune, because he learns things differently, and it took a while for me to realize I needed to explain the theory behind combat instead of hoping he’d learn through sparring.

Pyrrha Nikos: I fear the Beacon curriculum isn’t suited for the type of learning he’s suited for, considering the lack of formal theory behind combat class besides Miss Goodwitch’s scattered comments after each bout. Those are the parts that are most productive for Jaune, did you know?

Pyrrha Nikos: But I _know_ he can do it. I was very much like him at the start, except that we learn in different ways.

Pyrrha Nikos: As for reading, I have a hard time making sense of things if they’re just descriptions on a page, so I have to take my time and imagine things when reading literature. As a result, Blake likes to make fun of how slowly I read the novels I borrow from her.

Weiss Schnee: I… I didn’t realize that any of this about you, Pyrrha.

Pyrrha Nikos: Not a lot of people know. Just my team. And my parents.

Pyrrha Nikos: Jaune and the rest of my team have been very encouraging to me about revealing these parts of my personality to everyone else. It’s very difficult, you see, when you spend most of your formative years being mindful of how everyone sees you.

Weiss Schnee: I.

Weiss Schnee: I understand completely, Pyrrha.

Weiss Schnee: Thank you for the spar earlier, by the way. If I could be so forward…

Pyrhha Nikos: Yes?

Weiss Schnee: Could you… perhaps… give me feedback about our spar? Assuming you aren’t busy, of course. I know you train almost nightly with your partner.

Pyrrha Nikos: Oh, goodness, no, that’s fine!

Pyrrha Nikos: Actually, I’ve just been making Jaune do some drills and solo training tonight. He’s been working on his cardio once we figured out his instincts are suited towards being a defensive fighter. His stamina was already impressive, but with this, well…

_Pyrrha Nikos uploaded a video!_

Pyrrha Nikos: Sorry! Misclick!

Pyrrha Nikos: Please don’t tell Jaune I secretly took a video of him practicing. He’s already _so_ conscious when Blake decides to read by the rooftops while we’re training.

Weiss Schnee: Wait, _Blake_ watches you two train?

Pyrrha Nikos: Oh, no, Blake is very adamant that she isn’t watching over Jaune and I. She says she likes reading her books under the moonlight. And she only does it every now and then.

Pyrrha Nikos: Which, in retrospect, should have probably clued me in about her Faunus traits… she didn’t really hide it well, all things considered.

Pyrrha Nikos: That first day, when she revealed it to us, I joked that her Faunus heritage explained so much about her taste in fictional characters.

Weiss Schnee: I’m… honestly surprised you can joke about that without her taking offense.

Pyrrha Nikos: Well, it’s not like we haven’t made fun of each other’s taste in fictional characters in the past before this. And the more that I got to know Blake, the more I realized that she isn’t as sensitive as one might think about such matters. If you aren’t mean-spirited, she generally lets a few off-color remarks slide.

Pyrrha Nikos: Besides, she can slip into a few… politically incorrect statements as well. Pitfalls of our hobbies, I suppose.

Weiss Schnee: Yet another thing I don’t know about my teammate, I suppose.

Pyrrha Nikos: Oh, Weiss.

Pyrrha Nikos: I don’t think Blake hates you _that_ much to shut you out of her life. At least, she’s never implied anything like that to me.

Pyrrha Nikos: I’m sure if you took the time to talk to her, you’ll find that the two of you have a lot in common.

Weiss Schnee: If you say so.

Pyrrha Nikos: As for feedback from our spar… give me a minute to type up my observations.

Weiss Schnee: Go ahead.

\---0---

After much effort, Weiss finally found the strength to dress herself, although she couldn’t quite find it in herself to get up from the bench. She fixated on the scroll in her hand, ignoring the calls and messages her teammates sent and the draft of the message she was yet to send.

\---0---

 _Welcome to the **Weiss Schnee**_ _and **Pyrrha Nikos** group!_

Pyrrha Nikos: Let’s begin with the positives. I have no complaints about your basics – you’ve clearly spent a long time training the fundamentals. The way you handle yourself in combat, your control over your body and your weapon leaves nothing to be desired.

Pyrrha Nikos: The problem, I suspect, is in your mentality.

Weiss Schnee: I…see? Please do go on.

Pyrrha Nikos: How shall I put this?

Pyrrha Nikos: If we use Jaune as an example, he’s the type of person who’s spent a lot of time thinking about combat and combat tactics. I suppose it’s all the… graphic novels he has consumed. And he’s shown a lot of interest in combat strategy and tactics as well. Unlike me, he takes well to theory and things like researching Grimm behavior and approaches to combat. But he has his… weaknesses, correct?

Weiss Schnee: Of course. He lacks the practical knowledge.

Pyrrha Nikos: Yes. To put it the way my trainer would, he is not suited for learning physically. He is the type who does better planning and strategizing ahead of time and adjusting in the middle of combat to achieve his overall strategy. However, he started training too late to keep up with what he would like to do.

Pyrrha Nikos: That is why he fares poorly in combat. He is aware of the limitations of his body, but that means his own combat options are limited. He spends a lot of time in combat defending because he knows he doesn’t have many options. I suppose that is why he does better when directing the rest of us, rather than participating in combat itself.

Pyrrha Nikos: You, however, are the opposite. You are very well trained, and your body knows what it ought to do. However, you are hesitating far too much.

Pyrrha Nikos: I noticed during our spar that you chose to engage me head-on, using your glyphs only for an initial burst of speed. While I don’t mean to demean your swordplay, I am fairly confident that I outclass you in that regard, especially with our choices of weaponry.

Pyrrha Nikos: Had you chosen to take advantage of your dust or your semblance, you would have had a better chance of keeping me away. Admittedly, your ability to control the battlefield is far more potent than mine, especially if you can keep opponents from engaging you at close range.

Pyrrha Nikos: But you chose to throw away that advantage until I had closed in. Even when you finally did that trick with that glyph that sped you up, it was too late in the fight. And it seems that there were some flaws with that technique as well that you haven’t fixed.

Weiss Schnee: So, what, exactly, are you suggesting here Pyrrha?

Pyrrha Nikos: Well. I may not be one to talk, considering how I use my semblance, but…

Pyrrha Nikos: Weiss, why are you so hesitant to use your dust? Or your semblance?

\---0---

That was the million lien question, wasn’t it?

Weiss was unsure of how to answer. She _knew_ the answer to the question, definitely – she had found that her pastime in private was to torture herself over her many, many flaws. Most nights, it was her tendency to be terrible to her so-called friends, but some nights, it was her complicated relationship with her heritage and her own abilities.

Weiss recalled her fight with the Arma Gigas. During the first half of the fight, Weiss had tried confronting the Grimmified suit of armor with only her basic glyphs and her rapier. She had landed a few hits in, sure, and was able to maneuver her way around the battlefield, but all that skill failed to deal significant damage to the giant knight, and eventually the knight managed to land a few solid hits in. Looking back, Weiss realized that her big mistake was not using the full array of abilities available to her from the start – she only started using her dust when the wound over her eye formed, and felt the blood trickling down her face.

Weiss chided herself for that. For all her vaunted pride, for all her desire to be free of her father’s influence, the moment that she felt herself in danger, she relied on the same things she despised. So she began using the dust vials embedded in the revolver chamber of Myrtenaster and started combining them with her glyphs. In other words: she began fighting like a _Schnee_.

(She wondered sometimes if that was the reason she struggled so much with summoning: a part of her despised the idea that one of her powers was to _call for help_. And didn’t that fly in the face of her supposed goal of independence?)

If Weiss was completely honest with herself, she could admit that what she hated wasn’t the fact that she had the Schnee family semblance, but that for her to be effective in combat, she had to rely on the privileges afforded to her as the heiress of the SDC. Fighting with all that dust was impossible _unless_ she had access to the resources of the Schnee Dust Company, and Weiss only needed to look at the munitions and weapon requisition forms that Ruby and Jaune filled out every month to realize just how _expensive_ it was to fight on an optimal level as a Schnee. That was part of why Weiss never liked doing the requisition forms early, because it was tantamount to admitting that, for all her vaunted independence, she was _still_ relying on daddy’s dust. Their budget was never enough to cover _Weiss_ ’ dust expenditure anyway – she always ordered extra for herself using her _Schnee Dust Company_ credit card…

It was one thing, however, to admit her failings to herself. It was another to admit it to other people. She was still a Schnee, and she still held herself to high standards. She _had_ to be perfect. Otherwise, what did _Weiss_ have?

\---0---

 _Welcome to the **Weiss Schnee**_ _and **Pyrrha Nikos** group!_

Weiss Schnee: I’m not sure what you mean.

Pyrrha Nikos: Weiss, I simply want to help.

Weiss Schnee: You think I need help?!

Pyrrha Nikos: Everyone needs a little push from time to time. It… doesn’t make you any different from the rest of us.

\---0---

 _But things are different for me!_ Weiss screamed in her head. _I’m a Dust-damned Schnee! Privileged! Blessed with incredible talents and opportunities! I’m not like the rest of you! I don’t have the luxury of feeling sorry for myself!_

Weiss fought back the anger, the _desperation_ that welled up from her heart, willing her heart to turn to stone. She couldn’t even bear to look herself in the mirror, afraid of what she would find. _Mirror, mirror, tell me something – can I stop my fall?_

\---0---

 _Welcome to the **Weiss Schnee**_ _and **Pyrrha Nikos** group!_

Weiss Schnee: I apologize for the outburst.

Weiss Schnee: Perhaps there is some validity to your words. I will try to keep them in mind.

Pyrrha Nikos: I hope you do, Weiss. I didn’t mean to imply anything untoward about your performance today.

Pyrrha Nikos: I just wish to know what it is that is bothering you. I only wish to help.

\---0---

Well. Maybe Pyrrha would understand? She had always shown a willingness to listen to her…

\---0---

 _Welcome to the **Weiss Schnee**_ _and **Pyrrha Nikos** group!_

Weiss Schnee: Pyrrha, may I tell you something private about myself?

Pyrrha Nikos: Of course, Weiss.

Weiss Schnee: Remember what I told you, last weekend? About how much I despised that people just saw me as Weiss Schnee, heiress to the SDC?

Pyrrha Nikos: Yes. I remember it well.

_Someone is typing…_

Weiss Schnee: I want to be my own person.

Weiss Schnee: I… I’m tired. Of being the “heiress of the SDC”. I don’t want to be stuck relying on my father’s dust and summoning glyphs while my friends fight for their lives. Don’t you understand?

Weiss Schnee: If I can’t… if I can’t be perfect on my own… then what good am I?

\---0---

(If Weiss could see Pyrrha now, she would have noticed the wry smile on Pyrrha’s face, that glint of familiarity towards her words. It would have mortified Weiss, seeing how familiar her words were to Pyrrha.)

\---0---

 _Welcome to the **Weiss Schnee**_ _and **Pyrrha Nikos** group!_

Pyrrha Nikos: I see.

Pyrrha Nikos: I’m afraid I can’t offer any advice there. I’m afraid I can only leave you alone to process this by yourself.

Pyrrha Nikos: But… if I may be forward?

_Someone is typing…_

Pyrrha Nikos: With your abilities, your skill, and the effort you so clearly have put into becoming the fighter you are today, I worry that you’re throwing it all away over something that’s all in your head.

Pyrrha Nikos: Speaking from experience, live combat isn’t so kind to those who overthink everything. You can worry about your pride all you want later, but in a fight, what matters is who wins and who loses. If I spent all my time worrying about the unfairness of my semblance in a tournament setting, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Pyrrha Nikos: It would be _such_ a waste for you to not take advantage of all that you have to make you an even better fighter. Regardless of your pride, or what standards you have set for yourself.

Pyrrha Nikos: I wouldn’t want you to get in the way of…you. I’ve almost let a… dear friend of mine make that mistake. I don’t want you to make that mistake as well. Especially now that you’re working with a team.

\---0---

It was like a dam broke for Weiss, reading Pyrrha’s messages with tears trickling down her face. Of course Pyrrha wouldn’t understand how to help her with dilemma – some believed in fairy stories, but life wasn’t some morality play where people dispensed bits of knowledge that helped people overcome their traumas and their problems in an instant, and Pyrrha certainly was no wise man from a fairy tale. But for Pyrrha to be _there_ for her, to show her compassion and understanding even when Weiss felt that she didn’t deserve it… what could Weiss do, but shed her tears, wipe her face, and thank the Invincible Girl for being there for her?

\---0---

 _Welcome to the **Weiss Schnee**_ _and **Pyrrha Nikos** group!_

Weiss Schnee: Ah.

Weiss Schnee: You’re right, of course. I will endeavor to keep this in mind, moving forward.

Weiss Schnee: I admit, I _have_ been slacking on improving my semblance. Our spar was the first time I attempted to use that Time Dilation glyph you observed earlier, and, well, you saw the result.

Weiss Schnee: _Thank you_ , Pyrrha. For your feedback. And for everything else as well. This is twice now that you’ve helped me with… matters of the heart.

Pyrrha Nikos: Oh, it wasn’t just me last time.

Weiss Schnee: Yes, yes, I suppose I do owe your partner a thanks as well. But for this… accepting my invitation to spar… giving me advice that I needed to hear… It is difficult to express in words how much this has helped me… process things.

Weiss Schnee: It must look so silly, me being despondent over such a trivial matter.

Weiss Schnee: You are right, of course. I’ve been so reticent in utilizing my advantages effectively, and I have no one to blame but myself.

Weiss Schnee: I can’t afford to mope over my own weakness, not when the others have led much harder lives. I don’t like to brag often, but I’ve been blessed. Privileged. Sorrow is unbecoming for one like me.

Pyrrha Nikos: Of course, Weiss.

Pyrrha Nikos: Although…

Pyrrha Nikos: In one of my, um, favorite books, there is this wonderful passage I recalled just now… please allow me to quote it.

Pyrrha Nikos: “ _Everyone is entitled to their own sorrow, for the heart has no metrics or forms of measure. And all of it... irreplaceable._ ”

Pyrrha Nikos: It’s from a book that Blake and I love dearly. I should lend my copy to you one day.

Pyrrha Nikos: You are entitled to your sorrow, Weiss. Your emotions are yours and yours alone, and I believe you mustn’t be ashamed of what you feel. After all, these are what makes you _you_ , Weiss.

Pyrrha Nikos: On that note, Jaune’s almost done. Perhaps we should retire for the night.

Pyrrha Nikos: I hope our little talk helped clear your head. You should probably head back to the dorms. Blake’s looking for you~

Pyrrha Nikos: You should go talk to her. We could tell you’ve been avoiding her all day.

\---0---

(Gods, what she that obvious?)

 _Fine_. So she was avoiding things. She could even admit, at least to herself, that she tended to make excuses for everything instead of confronting her own flaws. The binder, zoning out in class so she had an excuse to talk to Nora, even the sparring with Pyrrha and testing the Time Dlilation glyph… she knew _exactly_ why she had spent all day trying to distract herself with these things. She wasn’t perfect. Not yet, anyway!

She wasn’t independent yet. She wasn’t good enough that she could try and strike out on her own as a Huntress, without having to rely on her family semblance or the Schnee Dust Company’s access to high-quality dust. She wasn’t good enough with using her own semblance, not good enough to use her dust more tactically, and not good enough to make full use of her advantages for hers and her friends’ benefit. And _yes_ , she could admit that Pyrrha was right, so much of it was her hesitance, her dust-damned pride holding her back.

It would take a long time, Weiss felt, before she could even express this openly. It would take an even longer time to properly address her myriad issues – her feelings of inadequacy, her guilt for feeling sorry for herself when others have had it harder… she had a lot of problems on her own she needed to fix. But Pyrrha told her that she was entitled to her own sorrow, that it was hers and hers alone. That it was something _Weiss_ had for herself. Maybe… maybe she could work on herself more?

 _Well,_ Weiss concluded, _I should probably start with what I can actually achieve for now,_ turning to her numerous drafts meant for her teammate.

Only to notice that _Blake_ had left a lot of unread messages…

\---0---

_Welcome to the beginning of the **Blake Belladonna** and **Weiss Schnee** group!_

Blake Belladonna: hey weiss

Blake Belladonna: you seemed really bothered abt the binder so i went looking for it

Blake Belladonna: found it mixed with my books on the shelves

Blake Belladonna: i think i might have accidentally got your binder mixed up with the rest of my stuff when i was cleaning out my desks

Blake Belladonna: i know you get irritable when our stuff’s messy, so…

Blake Belladonna: um. didnt realize sooner how badly this was bothering you

Blake Belladonna: i know we’ve not gotten along all that well in the past, and i can admit that part of the blame is on me as well. so, im sorry.

\---0---

Well, wasn’t that the kicker?

Weiss could only laugh at the dust-damned binder, which really wasn’t all that important in the grand scheme of things. Ren was right, of course. The binder was just something convenient, an excuse for Weiss so that she could get away with not having to think about what she _actually_ needed to do today. A part of her even suspected it was simply an excuse to initiate a private conversation with Blake.

(Like with many things she realized today, Weiss was beginning to feel like she made excuses to talk to people, instead of, you know, _just talking to people_ … just like how she would make up excuses to confront her flaws, talked up how much she strove for perfection to cover up that she was anything but… Gods, Nora saw right through her, didn’t she?)

And here Blake just… did everything Weiss had spent almost two days obsessing over! Didn’t that make her feel like a _dolt!_

It was like the universe was telling her that all that time and effort trying to put off this conversation, even going so far as to try and spar with the Invincible Girl, was for nothing. She could have done this from the start!

So Weiss deleted all the expertly-crafted drafts and just spoke from her heart.

\---0---

_Welcome to the **Blake Belladonna** and **Weiss Schnee** group!_

Weiss Schnee: Hey, Blake?

Weiss Schnee: Can we talk? In private?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what makes writing long Weiss chapters fun? Angst and grappling with Weiss’ insecurities, of course, wrapped in lengthy monologues designed to deny and ignore the issue the POV character actually wants to address! (You can tell I picked up a lot of my fanfic writing habits from Oregairu.)
> 
> So what do you all think is the superior name for the future Weiss/Blake chat? Checkmate? Monochrome? Something else? Tell me in the comments below. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Next chapter should be a Yang-centric chapter, because I feel like writing something more comedic after, well, this. Let’s just hope I don’t bring up Yang’s abandonment issues or her more vulnerable side…
> 
> Also, how’s the story treating everyone so far? Is the prose any good? Are the characters ringing true and staying loyal to canon, even with the way I interpret their personalities? Are the callbacks to canon lines and parallels I’m drawing between different characters that people may not expect work for you? (I was particularly happy with a line I wrote for Weiss that references a Jaune line from Volume 1, but that may not work for everyone.) I live for feedback, so please flood me with them. What do you like about the story? What could be improved?


	6. Volume 1.5 (Saturday): mr. arc’s a bit of a bottom bitch for all of RWBY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important timeline stuff: we know for a fact that Ruby’s birthday is on Halloween in our world. I have no clue how calendars work in Remnant – for all we know, they could have the strangest fucking calendar with like 69 days in a month and 42(0) months in a year or whatever. Occam’s razor suggests it’s the same as ours, but one can never be too careful… Which is to say that I placed Ruby’s birthday around the second semester. (Once again, because I’m cruel: I like to imagine Ruby celebrated her sweet sixteenth while in her silver-eyes coma.) That’s important because of the… main plot thread of this chapter. 
> 
> So how about that volume 8 preview, huh? That trailer gave me LIFE. Literally the goal of this fic is have the cast interact with each other outside their teammates, and Yang and the boys go biking is like a chapter I’d write, right down to the potential angst of Yang having a fight with someone over trust issues. That convinced me to finish this chapter quickly. Anyway, have some Yang! Real best girl! Weiss? Who’s that?

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW**!_

Snow Angel: This channel you recommended is simply _divine_ , Blake.

Big Kitty Goth GF: im glad you enjoyed it weiss

Snow Angel: I did not know about the beauty of these… ASMR channels until you recommended them to me.

Snow Angel: _Very_ relaxing to listen to. I have not had such a good night’s sleep in _weeks_. Whoever runs this “Arc-en-Ciel” channel is a genius with the most _wondrous_ voice. Extremely soothing. And even the way he clips his nails is divine!

Big Kitty Goth GF: pft

Big Kitty Goth GF: dont thank me, thank **Cereal Girl**

Cereal Girl: Just spreading good word of mouth about him!

Snow Angel: How _did_ you find out about this channel, Pyrrha?

Cereal Girl: Well, when Jaune encouraged me to make my own DusTube account, he also told me to research what the popular videos were. We spend a lot of training breaks just watching videos on our scrolls.

Big Kitty Goth GF: pyr was mr. arc-en-ciel’s _first_ subscriber, and she dutifully leaves comments on each video.

Big Kitty Goth GF: now it’s a relatively successful ASMR channel and pyrrha always gets shout-outs on his videos

Cereal Girl: It’s good for the algorithm, Jaune says! I’m not _sure_ what that means, but I trust his judgment. I hope I can achieve the same level of success with my own channel.

Cereal Girl: As soon as I’m confident in the training videos I’ve recorded, I will upload them and hopefully find a following of my own.

Big Kitty Goth GF: your pyrrha freakin nikos id be worried if you didnt have a following

Cereal Girl: Well, I _was_ hoping to wear a mask and hide my identity for a bit. A face reveal video would be a good, um, subscriber goal? Jaune suggested it anyway.

Cereal Girl: Perhaps I’ll preserve my anonymity like how Jaune does with his channel.

Snow Angel: Wait, that dunce has a channel too? What does he even upload?

Cereal Girl: Um.

Cereal Girl: Weiss? Did Blake not tell you?

Snow Angel: Tell me what?

_Cereal Girl is muted for one hour!_

_Someone is typing…_

Snow Angel: Pyrrha?

Big Kitty Goth GF: whew.

Big Kitty Goth GF: good thing I convinced jaune and ruby to let me mod the chat when they’re not around

Snow Angel: Blake!

Snow Angel: Why is Pyrrha muted?

Big Kitty Goth GF: oh uh

Big Kitty Goth GF: pyr said sth rly rude in our chat. this is her punishment

Snow Angel: _Really?_

Snow Angel: How _immature_ of you.

Snow Angel: Wait, but aren’t you with Pyrrha at the library right now? Why are you even chatting on your scrolls!

Snow Angel: Plus, it’s like eight in the morning! Why are you up so early!

Big Kitty Goth GF: well, you know, it’s the library! gotta keep quiet

Big Kitty Goth GF: plus pyr and i have a, uh, project we need to finish soon. deadline’s coming up

Snow Angel: Well, I can’t say I disapprove of that mentality.

Big Kitty Goth GF: nvm pyr says she’s heading back to the dorms to prepare for jnpr’s… uh… training session

_Someone is typing…_

Queen of the Castle: OwO What’s this? Are the Ice Queen and Blake finally getting along?

Snow Angel: Hush, Nora!

Big Kitty Goth GF: we talked stuff out yes

Ren-sensei: Good for you two. I hope things are fine now for your team?

Snow Angel: It’s a… work in progress? Thank you for asking, however.

Queen of the Castle: Also

Queen of the Castle: How come you can mod the chat Blake???

Big Kitty Goth GF: perks of being second in command I guess?

Queen of the Castle: WAIT

Queen of the Castle: WE CAN MOD IF WE’RE SECOND IN COMMAND?

Snow Angel: It’s in the official Terms of Service of this app, Nora!

Queen of the Castle: WHO EVEN READS THAT

Snow Angel: I do.

Ren-sensei: I as well.

Big Kitty Goth GF: pyr made me read it

Snow Angel: Our leaders are also made to read it. It’s part of leadership class if I remember correctly.

Queen of the Castle: Okay, first things first.

Queen of the Castle: How come Pyrrha doesn’t have mod powers in our chat? Isn’t she our second in command?

Big Kitty Goth GF: bc jaune only just managed to teach her the basic Valean scroll controls

Big Kitty Goth GF: also in the leader meeting ozpin and glynda told jaune, in no uncertain terms, to not let any of you be his second

Big Kitty Goth GF: no offense meant, i think

Queen of the Castle: Really? Not even Pyrrha? I mean, I get me, I wouldn’t trust myself to lead in Fearless Leader’s absence, but Pyrrha?

Big Kitty Goth GF: actually, you were jaune’s first choice

Big Kitty Goth GF: or at least his only possible choice

Big Kitty Goth GF: pyr’s more of a follower and she’s explicitly told jaune shes uncomfortable taking command of you. plus ozpin said sth abt pyrrha being suited for a different role

Big Kitty Goth GF: and ren is, and i quote ozpin, “a bit of a bottom bitch for ms. valkyrie.”

Snow Angel: …are you gonna take that, Ren?

Ren-sensei: He’s not wrong.

Big Kitty Goth GF: On official Team JNPR documentation, Ruby is listed as second-in-command. Pyrrha didn’t tell you this?

Ren-sensei: Nora probably wasn’t paying attention. Most of these things get announced at the weekly meetings and confirmed in the minutes Jaune uploads in our chat, but those documents tend to be fifty pages long.

Big Kitty Goth GF: well, Ruby’s your second-in-command, as weird as that sounds. she’s already decided on a team name and everything

Queen of the Castle: Is that why she insists on calling our chat “team rnnjr”???

Ren-sensei: That was my suggestion.

Queen of the Castle: Oh, okay, that makes sense.

Queen of the Castle: **ALSO**

Queen of the Castle: Why isn’t Weissy your second in command?

Ren-sensei: I assume it’s because Ozpin doesn’t want all that power to go to Weiss’ head.

Big Kitty Goth GF: yes, and ruby tricked me into agreeing since there wasnt anyone else

Big Kitty Goth: ozpin suggested jaune be our second as well, but glynda just laughed _really_ hard

Big Kitty Goth GF: glynda said, and I quote: “mr. arc’s a bit of a bottom bitch for all of RWBY.”

Queen of the Castle: But not for me or Pyrrha???

Snow Angel: No offense, Nora, but you and Pyrrha immediately deferred to the dolt during Initiation, plus he’s the only person you take orders from that isn’t Ren.

Big Kitty Goth GF: and we all know pyr’s preferences

Queen of the Castle: There’s one specific place I can imagine her taking charge.

Big Kitty Goth GF: yes and it’s not in the battlefield

Snow Angel: Well, I for one am glad I’m not the official second in command. 

Snow Angel: My younger self was absolutely insane when she thought she could handle _Yang Xiao Long_.

Queen of the Castle: **_NO WAY_**

Queen of the Castle: You don’t want to lead??? Who are you and what did you do to our Weiss???

Snow Angel: I’m not _your_ Weiss, Nora! I am my own woman and I resent the implication that anyone could ‘own’ me.

Queen of the Castle: Oh, okay. So you’re a bottom pretending to be a top.

Big Kitty Goth GF: pfft

Ren-sensei: Nora

Ren-sensei: Let’s not make assumptions about the preferences of our friends.

Ren-sensei: For the record, Weiss, I respect you regardless of your… inclinations.

Snow Angel: _EXCUSE ME_

_Someone is typing…_

Queen of the Castle: Speaking of inclinations, Weiss, I heard you were into ASMR now! Did you listen to the Vacuoan plague one yet?

Snow Angel: No, I only started listening last night.

Queen of the Castle: You _totally_ should. Most of the stuff Ren listens to is so _boring_! They put me to sleep! But the plague one is _DOPE!_

_Queen of the Castle played a video over the chat!_

Big Kitty Goth GF: well, at least we can mute the videos now

Ren-sensei: Nora, you know the purpose of ASMR is relaxation, right?

Queen of the Castle: Less whining, more plaguing!

Snow Angel: This is… interesting.

Snow Angel: I’m afraid such advanced… performances may not work for me yet. “Arc-en-ciel” is good enough for me. Also, he’s supposed to upload a new recording this weekend! I’m looking forward to it!

Snow Angel: A shame about his upload schedule, though. And did you notice how he was filling out that hoodie of his in the recent uploads? He’s been working out!

Queen of the Castle: Oh man, Jaune’s going be real happy with that one.

Snow Angel: Huh? Why? What does that lying dunce have to do with any of this?

Big Kitty Goth GF: OH YOU KNOW

Big Kitty Goth GF: HES JUST A REALLY BIG FAN OF ARC-EN-CIEL

BIG KITTY GOTH GF: RIGHT NORA

Queen of the Castle: Uhhhhhhhhh

Queen of the Castle: Yeah, totally!

Ren-sensei: Yes, he was the first person to ever watch Arc-en-Ciel videos and recommended the channel to the rest of us.

Snow Angel: Wait, but I thought Pyrrha was that channel’s first subscriber and biggest fan

Big Kitty Goth GF: ummmmmmm

Ren-sensei: They discovered the channel together.

Big Kitty Goth GF: right!!!

Snow Angel: …Ok?

Ren-sensei: Anyway.

Ren-sensei: **Queen of the Castle** , **Cereal Girl** , **SunnyLittleDragon** , are you ready?

Ren-sensei: Jaune and I will be waiting at the usual spot. Yang, just follow Nora since this is your first time.

Queen of the Castle: Pyrrha’s almost done with her bath!

Queen of the Castle: Oh, and bring plenty of water and energy drinks, Yang!

Snow Angel: Yang’s still asleep. Should I wake her up?

Queen of the Castle: Is she hungover??? I’m shocked she went out without inviting us!

Snow Angel: No, she went out to Vale late last night, but I don’t think she went partying. She was pretty sober and didn’t reek of vomit when she came back.

Big Kitty Goth GF: I’m pretty sure the only time Yang goes clubbing is when she convinces at least one of us to go with her.

Queen of the Castle: Can you blame her? She needs a designated driver.

Queen of the Castle: I remember the last time we went with her she got tipsy off that first Strawberry Sunrise she ordered

Ren-sensei: The non-alcoholic one?

Queen of the Castle: Exactly!

Ren-sensei: Also, I’m pretty sure she still owes us money for the last round of drinks.

Queen of the Castle: No, Ren, the last round was on you. Remind me never to let you handle money for alcohol ever again.

Snow Angel: In any case, Ruby isn’t in our room to wake Yang up, and Ms. Snorezilla over here is terrifying when we try to rouse her. Any suggestions?

Queen of the Castle: Oh! Oh! Let her listen to this!

_Queen of the Castle played a video over the chat!_

_Someone is typing…_

SunnyLittleDragon: **_fuck off im trying to sleep_**

\---0---

Yang _hated_ mornings.

She hated all the daily rituals that girls had to go through every morning just to _look_ beautiful. Puberty hit her _hard_ , and almost as a survival mechanism, Yang _had_ to show everyone she was strong _and_ beautiful – otherwise, she and Ruby were going to be targets at Signal. It was bad enough that their father and uncle were teachers (and hence the two girls were automatically teacher’s pets) but Ruby was just so vulnerable and defenseless as a kid (at least until she learned how to use a scythe and became Signal’s biggest weapon nerd) that Yang felt the need to step up and be the guardian dragon her namesake suggested. Yang’s early life consisted of her beating off lechers and perverts who only saw her for her chest and saw her sister as a way to get to her, or worst, someone to bully. She also had to be strong and powerful to prove wrong all the naysayers who saw her and Ruby as riding off daddy’s coattails, so she was determined to prove herself utterly untouchable, both physically and emotionally.

But being untouchable was a _lot_ of work. She was proud of who she was, but it was a lot of work to maintain that – she had spent much of her youth training hard and growing stronger, ensuring her body was in tip-top shape (she would _never_ let anything like that one time she took Ruby out on her wagon happen ever again) even if her instincts were to lay around in bed, play video games, and pig out on strawberry cake and chocolate cookies with her sister. No, she couldn’t afford to do anything that would jeopardize the tough-as-anils image that other people had of her. Wasn’t that why she learned how to ride and maintain a bike like Bumblebee? Because it was useful for travelling _and_ it fit the image she wanted to project?

And that image took a lot of work to cultivate. As a child, Yang never really understood the point of makeup, growing up with two adult males as her role models, until an unfortunate incident with her, Ruby, and the local mean girls posse forced her to learn for both her and Ruby. (Ruby, bless her, still didn’t see the point but had begrudgingly learned the basics, at least.) She never even gave much thought to fashion until it was clear that most people only cared about your projected image, and so she learned how to dress up. Besides, you needed to look a certain way to gain access to the clubs she needed to enter if she wanted to find information on Raven, especially considering she was underage when she started looking for information. She wasn’t much of a partygoer at first either until it became clear that she had developed a reputation for hitting up bars and shady clubs, so she decided that she might as well cultivate the image. Oh, she enjoyed them _now_ , but part of her wondered if it was just the thrill seeker side she claimed she had, or perhaps habits cultivated from years of telling other people that was why she went partying every weekend. If she was honest, she only really enjoyed clubbing if she was with close friends.

Of which she had blessedly few, growing up. Ruby didn’t count – she was young and there was no way in hell Yang would take her underage sister anywhere within speaking distance of drunk and lecherous men and women. Her friends from Signal were really just acquaintances (and most of them failed Initiation at Beacon anyway!) and a lifetime of being the strong, badass, beautiful woman meant she had made just as many enemies as allies at Signal, most of whom were jealous of her or angry she never gave them the time of day. So she didn’t really have any _close_ friends. Big deal.

Not that she cared much for getting close to most of her acquaintances anyway – most of them would leave, eventually. That was just how her life went.

Her _one_ rebellion against this image scathing eyes forced on her was her hair. Don’t get her wrong, she _loved_ her hair, and took loving care of it, using only the best hair products and putting in the work to maintain it each and every night, but otherwise she refused to tame her majestic, glorious locks. It was a lot of work, taking care of her hair so that it looked amazing while still retaining the wild, unruly look that it did, but it was worth it. It was her own way of asserting her individuality, of reclaiming a part of her personality from the image that people had essentially forced on her. It was hers and hers only! She never even allowed people to touch her besides her dad and Ruby, at least until recently!

(These days she had found that she and Blake had common ground in unruly bed hair, and some days if she woke up early then Blake would acquiesce to combing her hair and fixing it for the day. Most of their early conversations came about thanks to this hair ritual, and before the whole fiasco at the docks, their main way of bonding, since Yang wasn’t exactly a _book_ person and their hobbies didn’t exactly mesh.

She’d also discovered that Jaune was pretty good with hair, no doubt thanks to his seven (seven!) sisters forcing him to, so on a random day she decided that they would mess with each other’s hair for fun. That was _probably_ the first time she saw Blake crack a smile at her, observing her pigtails and Jaune’s self-proclaimed “warrior’s wolf tail”. A better strategy than her puns, at least.)

The point was, Yang hated mornings because it took a _lot_ of work just to make Yang Xiao Long look like Yang Xiao Long. Before coming to Beacon, it took her almost half an hour to get ready for the day, from choosing her outfit to the simple act of rinsing her hair in the shower and making sure not a single strand of hair was astray even if it was _supposed_ to look messy. Thankfully, a lot of it changed when they came to Beacon – for as much as Weiss liked to fuss about appearances, she was shockingly slovenly inside their dorm room (she assumed that Weiss was used to having people fuss over her appearance as well back at Atlas, and enjoyed the freedom to not look like a princess all the time) and the rest of their team was no better. Sure, Blake looked _amazing_ even without all the prettying up expected of girls, and Yang was jealous of how Blake could look immaculate even if she just woke up, and Ruby was Ruby and therefore cute no matter what, but none of them cast judgment if one of them didn’t feel like looking pretty that day. (The _only_ time anyone had gotten annoyed at her for not acting ladylike and proper was when Weiss finally snapped and told Yang off for her incessant snoring, but that wasn’t her fault now, wasn’t it!)

She was glad, too, that their neighboring sister team was just as nonchalant if they saw her at breakfast or at the common room looking less than perfect. She was initially wary of the two boys over at their sister team, but it was clear that both were used to dealing with women, unlike most of the boys at Beacon. Ren was the perfect gentleman, keeping to himself and not judging her if she knocked on Team JNPR’s dorm room, just wearing her sleeping attire, to borrow shampoo from Pyrrha, and Jaune, despite being the dorkiest of dorks, never ogled her or made suggestive comments about her appearance. Nora honestly never cared about appearances and instead was always more eager to have fun with Yang, and Pyrrha, despite being the most prim and proper girl Yang had ever met, was just as bad with mornings as her. (She would never forget encountering “morning Pyrrha” one fateful early morning, when Yang made the decision to get up at the ungodly hour of five in the morning to do some training, only to overhear Jaune and Nora trying to calm a furious Pyrrha, whose alarms went off too early. For someone who trained religiously, Pyrrha was so _bad_ with getting up early!)

So she _wasn’t_ a morning person. Big deal. Beacon had a way of changing people for the better, Yang thought, because just a year ago she wouldn’t be forcing herself to get up at an ungodly hour, at a weekend no less, to get ready and participate in Team JNPR’s weekly dance/training sessions. (She still needed to beat Jaune at DDR, dammit! Plus, it promised to be a good workout! Never mind her _other_ goal for meeting with Team JNPR…)

Steeling herself for a long day, Yang rushed out RWBY’s dorm room, her hair still damp, and knocked on JNPR’s room to meet with Nora. At the same time, she began messaging Jaune.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Dragonslayer**!_

Sunshine: yo VB

Sunshine: sup

Ladykiller: yang ren’s getting impatient, please tell me you’re otw

Sunshine: we are nora’s just getting an uh

Sunshine: “pick me up”

Ladykiller: …right

Sunshine: so yeah im just waiting for her to finish eating

Sunshine: so

Sunshine: sup

Ladykiller: look if this is about what we talked about the other night im _fine_

Ladykiller: i dont mind weiss giving me the cold shoulder for the transcripts thing

Ladykiller: you didnt need to tag along with me for a food run just to talk abt it

Sunshine: pssh lets not get ahead of ourselves VB

Sunshine: i just wanted to get free pizza

Sunshine: plus we dont get to hang much

Ladykiller: we see each other _every day_

Sunshine: yea but that doesnt count as hanging out

Ladykiller: yeah i get it

Ladykiller: your just salty you and blake dont hang out more often

Sunshine: …….

Sunshine: _you’re a dead man jaune arc_

Ladykiller: ooh look at me im jealous my partner hangs out with vomit boy’s partner more than me

Sunshine: o ho i see you’re developing a backbone now

Ladykiller: you’d be surprised how easy it is to talk shit online

Ladykiller: esp when i know you’re not gonna make it here for at least twenty minutes

Ladykiller: enough time for me to hide

Ladykiller: (please don’t kill me)

Sunshine: …

Sunshine: look if weiss is still bothering you i can talk to her

Sunshine: ruby already had a talk w her abt it but you know how stubborn she is

Ladykiller: yang

Ladykiller: i dont need you to go big sis on me. you don’t need to be big sis _all the time_

Ladykiller: i already have a bunch of sisters for that

Sunshine: fine

_Someone is typing…_

Sunshine: look i need a favor

Ladykiller: what is it

Sunshine: its for ruby

Sunshine: is JNPR free tonight?.

Sunshine: i need all your help for a lil sth. im gonna ask at your training sesh later

Ladykiller: well, i was supposed to do some recording tonight

Ladykiller: did you know beacon has a dedicated recording studio? it’s next to the music room

Ladykiller: its so weird not more students use em. place is empty most of the time, especially on weekends

Ladykiller: but yeah, i can push that back, not a lot of people use the recording room anw

Sunshine: you sure?

Ladykiller: yeah. its for ruby, right?

Sunshine: …thanks, VB.

Ladykiller: yeah yeah now hurry up here before ren gets really pissed. you’ll regret pissing him off when he’s in charge, trust me

Sunshine: pssh whats the worst ren can do? besides, i don’t do regretting.

\---0---

Yang regretted every single moment of it.

\---0---

_Welcome to **juniper berries**!_

Daughter: And that’s why we’re keeping it secret for now, Pyrrha.

Dad: I understand. Although you would think Weiss would figure it out sooner…

Daughter: Well, it’s funnier this way.

Dad: Well, Blake did say she was going to take responsibility if Weiss gets angry.

Mom: guys

Mom: just like we talked about earlier

_Mom added **Yang Xiao Long** to the chat!_

_Daughter changed Yang Xiao Long’s name to **Aunt Yang**!_

Aunt Yang: nice nicknames

Daughter: Welcome to the chat, auntie!!!

Son: Yang.

Son: How are the legs?

Aunt Yang: less sore now

Son: Good.

Son: _because you need to fix your two left feet_

Aunt Yang: gimme a break ren! how was i supposed to memorize the entire routine!!!

Son: Jaune and Nora learned quickly.

Son: Pyrrha I’ve accepted is abysmal at dancing. You, however? How are you supposed to beat Jaune at DDR if you can’t even keep up with the basics?

Son: _Honestly_. Professor Ozpin has a saying that fighting and dancing are similar. You and Pyrrha are the best in combat for our year, and I believe you can defeat even our upperclassmen.

Son: _so why are you two so bad at dancing?_

Aunt Yang: where did you even get that quote!

Daughter: Oh, Professor Ozpin published a book about dance battling, apparently. We found an entire row of his books at the library!

Dad: Velvet says they didn’t sell well.

Mom: Velvet? Oh, the library assistant?

Mom: Also, Ren, please be nice to Yang. It’s her first time doing this.

Son: …fine. But for the record, they won’t improve if we coddle them.

Aunt Yang: lmao you guys are fun. can i stay here? our group chat is mostly just weiss being weiss

Daughter: Sorry, this chat is for team ears only!

Son: If Ruby couldn’t convince Jaune to let her stay here despite technically being our second-in-command, I doubt you’ll succeed.

Dad: And as much as Blake would like it here, I can’t allow her to stay here either.

Mom: guys focus

Mom: we need to prep for the party. yang, did you tell blake and weiss already?

Aunt Yang: hang on, they’re not at the dorms. im messaging them now.

Mom: right. we’ll start planning. Ren?

Son: I’ll prepare a list of ingredients.

\---0---

_Why is it so hard to message Blake?!_

Yang prided herself on her confidence. It took a lot of courage, she felt, to walk into some of the shadiest bars in Patch and later Vale to gather information, especially at such a young age. Even if most of the shady bars didn’t check for IDs, Yang stood out for her youth, despite her best attempts to dress up and fit in. So instead of trying to pretend she was older, she leaned into the image expected of her, which was why most of the flirting techniques she knew were from lecherous old men trying to hit on the easy-looking young girl. And if they ever got too handsy? Well, she did develop Ember Celica, albeit with lots of help from Ruby, and she had two deadly weapons with her at all times. It wasn’t her fault people always stared at them! And if they wanted to look at them so badly, Yang was glad to introduce their faces to them!

(That was why Yang always ended up punching people in the face. _Stop staring at my gauntlets, you creeps!_ )

Yang sat down on her bed and sighed. On her scroll, the chat head for Blake was open, and Yang had already drafted a short message ( _yo blake i need a favor_ ) but she stopped herself before sending it. It wasn’t a problem of confidence, Yang swore to herself, that stopped her from messaging Blake, but things were still so _awkward_ after the last weekend. Sure, they had talked, and they had given their apologies, and Weiss and Blake seemed to have had another talk last night, but a part of Yang still hesitated to talk to Blake. A part of her reasoned that it was the revelation that Blake somehow got along with Team JNPR better than the rest of her team, but it wasn’t like Blake making other friends got to her, really.

No, the problem was that Blake was her partner and _she was just discovering all of this now_.

Yang knew she did her part as a partner to reach out to Blake. They trained together every now and then, chatted in between bouts of combing and fixing each other’s hair, ate together, tried to hang out together (Yang, bless her, just could not get into the whole book reading thing), all that jazz. At one point, Yang even tried asking Blake to go with her to party, but the cat faunus was, unsurprisingly, not fond of large gatherings with all the noise pollution and alcohol that entailed. Yang had ended up cancelling her plans for the night and hung around the dorms, trying to start a conversation with her.

Yang couldn’t even fault her partner – she understood that Blake preferred keeping to herself, but she wasn’t averse to communicating with her team. Yang noticed the telltale signs: Blake’s eyes shifted warily, expecting _something,_ when a new person approached her, but they would loosen up once she realized the person could be trusted; she tended to avoided physical touch, which proved a small problem with the notoriously touchy-feely Ruby (who _loved_ giving hugs), until they had a talk to confirm that, no, she didn’t _hate_ Ruby, she was just uncomfortable with people touching her; she rarely, if ever, contributed to a conversation unless prompted, but was passionate about a topic once she got going; she spent a lot of time reading her books, but would close them and participate in whatever harebrained scheme their team would come up with if invited. Honestly, she acted so much like a cat that Yang felt she ought to have seen it coming.

But all of this meant that Yang felt she understood Blake, understood that Blake was slow to trust others, even if she clearly wished to be closer to them. So Yang took her time and kept her distance, even as she wanted to get to know more about her partner. She was someone who respected her partner’s boundaries, after all. Blake, she believed, was the type of person who would come to you if she were ready.

Which was why the fact that Blake had, somehow, decided to become good friends with Pyrrha Nikos of all people was the thing that frustrated Yang the most. She didn’t have anything against Pyrrha, no; if anything, she liked the celebrity, admired her strength, looked forward to sparring against her, even if Pyrrha tended to win their fights. She liked to think she got along well with Pyrrha, even if Pyrrha tended to hold back a lot of her feelings and was so overwhelmingly polite to the point of insincerity at times. And yet Blake, _Blake,_ felt she could trust in Pyrrha more than her own partner?

Okay, so Blake did get to Yang.

(Yang feared, sometimes, that the image she had projected unto others, of the fearless girl who laughed out loud and threatened anyone who meant her and her sister harm scared off not just the bad people but even the ones she liked.)

Things got worse when Blake revealed her identity that weekend and Yang realized just how _little_ she knew about her own partner. Not even Ren engaging her with his semblance that weekend was enough to completely calm her down, and it took Ren explaining to Yang the nature of how Pyrrha and Blake met for Yang to understand things a bit more. That was probably an eye-opening experience to Yang, who never really thought much of the entire weirdness that surrounded team JNPR before the field trip to Forever Fall. A part of her even promised to ease up on teasing Jaune after finding out about Cardin’s actions.

(In retrospect, Blake and Pyrrha sharing a mutual love for Mistralian cartoons probably shouldn’t have surprised Yang.)

Yang blinked, realizing that she had spent almost ten minutes staring at her scroll, lost in thought. _I don’t have time for this!_ she panicked, realizing that she had to focus on _Ruby_ right now, considering how yesterday turned out.

_Just talk to Blake. It’s not so hard, right?_

Yang sighed. Gods, if only she had as much confidence as she projected. Instead, she started a new group chat.

\---0---

_Welcome to the beginning of the **Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee** , and **Yang Xiao Long** group._

_Yang Xiao Long changed the name of the group to **Bee’s Schnees**!_

Yang Xiao Long: yo guys we have an emergency

_Yang Xiao Long **booped** Blake Belladonna!_

_Yang Xiao Long **booped** Weiss Schnee!_

Yang Xiao Long: **Blake Belladonna Weiss Schnee**

Blake Belladonna: what

Weiss Schnee: What in the world is it, Yang? Why not just message our group chat?

Yang Xiao Long: oh uh

Yang Xiao Long: its about ruby so

Yang Xiao Long: we need to keep it on the down low

Blake Belladonna: …ok?

Yang Xiao Long: any of you seen her today?

Weiss Schnee: I saw her leaving the cafeteria. It seems she wasn’t in a good mood. Did you have a fight with her or something?

Blake Belladonna: shes been silent in chat the whole morning too

Yang Xiao Long: right so uh

Yang Xiao Long: i _may or may not_ have forgotten that it’s ruby’s birthday today

Weiss Schnee: _You what???_

Weiss Schnee: Is that why Ruby’s in a bad mood all morning? She thinks we forgot her birthday?

Blake Belladonna: wtf yang

Yang Xiao Long: it completely slipped my mind!!!

Yang Xiao Long: i got team jnpr to agree to help plan a surprise party for her and i think i can get us a place by tonight

Weiss Schnee: Of all the irresponsible things to do…

Blake Belladonna: i kinda have to agree yang, you should have told us earlier

Blake Belladonna: we dont even have presents

Yang Xiao Long: that’s fine! ruby would rather have a party with us anyway. she didn’t exactly have a lot of friends back at Signal to celebrate with

Blake Belladonna: well, if you say so

Weiss Schnee: What do you need us for, then?

Yang Xiao Long: ill have you added temporarily to team jnpr’s chat and we can coordinate from there

\---0---

_Welcome to **juniper berries**!_

Mom: nora, i dont think pancakes are appropriate party food

Daughter: Not with that attitude!

Son: Pyrrha, are you sure we can cover everything with your card for now?

Dad: If it doesn’t, have Jaune withdraw some money from my bank. We can figure out how to split the costs with Team RWBY later.

Daughter: Oh man I’m so excited! I didn’t know today was Ruby’s birthday!

Daughter: I could have sworn it was some other day!

Mom: yeah, I thought so too.

Mom: wait yang says weiss and blake are in. hang on.

_Mom added **Weiss Schnee** to the chat!_

_Mom added **Blake Belladonna** to the chat!_

Mom: hey guys

Weiss Schnee: Alright, Yang briefed us on the details. What do we have right now?

Mom: ren and i ran down to vale to get food. we’ll get started on cooking once we get back.

Dad: Nora and I are looking for Ruby to distract her for the entire day.

Weiss Schnee: Right, and Yang said she had an idea of where we could hold the party.

Weiss Schnee: Who’s in charge of decorations? Arranging the venue once Yang finds one? Planning out the program?

Mom: …program? It’s just a birthday party, Weiss.

Weiss Schnee: _Ugh._

Weiss Schnee: This is why you’re such a dust-damned _dolt_! “Just a birthday party.” Good grief. No wonder Ruby’s so upset if even her supposed best friend doesn’t take this seriously!

Weiss Schnee: I’ll take over the planning from here since your fearless leader isn’t up to the task!

Son: Weiss.

Daughter: Don’t be mean, Weiss!

Aunt Yang: guys, focus!

\---0---

Yang cringed as she made her way down the halls of Beacon. She _knew_ Weiss didn’t mean to be so dismissive, but did Weiss have to be so… Weiss? What made it worse was Jaune being in the chat, which meant Weiss was certainly less inclined to be mindful of her words around him. She probably should have seen this coming, considering Weiss was still testy over the whole transcript thing… granted, this whole plan Yang was putting together was slap-dash at best. That was why she asked for help, after all.

_Why is Glynda’s office so hidden away?!_

Gods, she needed to rush if she wanted to secure the place.

At the very least, Weiss immediately took charge of the planning and had started renting out the things she requested. The power of the Schnee name certainly helped ensure they could get everything they needed. But for the entire thing to work, she needed to make sure Jaune and Weiss could work together…

\---0---

_Welcome to **Dragonslayer**!_

Sunshine: yo VB

Sunshine: how are things over there

Ladykiller: ren’s at the checkout counter

Ladykiller: we’ll get to the airbus back to beacon asap

Ladykiller: you got the place?

Sunshine: glynda’s got a meeting atm. i might go to ozpin directly.

Ladykiller: you sure?

Sunshine: positive

Sunshine: look

Sunshine: uh, VB

Sunshine: sorry bout weiss bein a bitch to you

Ladykiller: nah its cool. she doesn’t mean it

Sunshine: doesnt mean she has the right to be!

Ladykiller: i was a dick to her the first day of initiation too.

Ladykiller: plus shes right, i shouldn’t be here at beacon

Ladykiller: all i can do is prove i have a place here

Sunshine: …

Sunshine: sorry, jaune

Ladykiller: its alright yang.

 _Someone is typing_ …

Ladykiller: so when are you gonna tell em

Sunshine: huh?

Ladykiller: that it isn’t actually Ruby’s birthday.

\---0---

 _Dammit,_ Yang thought, _why does Ruby and Jaune know so much about each other??? Oh, right, those two dorks share_ everything!

\---0---

_Welcome to **Dragonslayer**!_

Ladykiller: i didn’t realize at first but then i remembered

Sunshine: …

Ladykiller: is this one of those family things ruby isn’t fond of talking about?

Sunshine: …jaune, can you keep a secret.

Ladykiller: …yang, c’mon

Sunshine: right, right, arc’s word.

Sunshine: right so

Sunshine: yesterday ruby blake and I decided to prank Weiss. just for fun, really, plus Weiss was being mean to you the past few days and ruby wanted to get back at her for it

Sunshine: Ruby woke up early and hid that huge binder Weiss uses for stuff, then snuck back to bed and pretended to sleep.

Sunshine: we figured, hey, we’ll give it back to Weiss at lunch or something, but then Weiss goes and throws a fit about losing her binder

Sunshine: blake felt guilty and got her binder back but didn’t tell her it was a prank since she figured ruby would wanna apologize

Sunshine: and ruby did want to apologize, but the guilt of the whole thing made her feel like weiss would get so mad at her she’d leave

Sunshine: when ruby gets worried abt stuff like this she just… spirals. last night i tried to talk to her and she started thinking about Summer.

Ladykiller: oh, your mom?

Sunshine: yeah. every now and then Ruby just has these bad episodes where she thinks of summer. ruby usually visits her grave to feel better, but patch is a bit of a long ride away atm.

Sunshine: we never really… commemorated summer’s death properly, so when she was younger and was down when she’d remember summer id throw little parties to distract her so i figured, hey, lets throw one right now

Ladykiller: so you were out all night looking for a place to reserve for a party?

Sunshine: yeah, but i couldn’t find any place that wasn’t a bar

Ladykiller: …

Ladykiller: what did you figure you were gonna tell the others

\---0---

(Yang could admit to herself that she played along with Ruby’s prank mostly so she and Blake could have _something_ to laugh about that day. It was hard finding things to talk to Blake about! And they did have a bit of fun at what they saw as a harmless prank until Blake cottoned on to the fact that Weiss was _genuinely_ bothered by the whole thing and had run off. _That_ had set Yang off.)

\---0---

_Welcome to **Dragonslayer**!_

Sunshine: iunno

Sunshine: i was just gonna claim i didn’t get to party last night so this is me trying to do something fun this weekend

Ladykiller: and this is fine with you? you’re gonna annoy weiss and blake at the very least

Sunshine: nobody needs to know about me n ruby’s sob story. i’ll be fine

Ladykiller: …

Ladykiller: yang we all know your bad at plans

Sunshine: hey!

Ladykiller: but this is prolly the dumbest thing ive seen you do all semester

Ladykiller: considering you jumped into the mouth of a giant nevermore thats saying something

Sunshine: rude

Ladykiller: you’re not afraid everyone’ll be pissed with you?

Sunshine: i mean what else is new right

Sunshine: this is totally something id do

\---0---

At some point, Yang feared, she had lost the distinction between who she thought she was and who she projected herself as. At some point, the parties _had_ to be a part of her life, even if she hated alcohol and the crowds got too handsy so she _always_ ended up in some fight, even when all she wanted to do was ask about Raven Branwen. At some point, she became the untouchable Yang Xiao Long, who could beat up anyone who looked at her funny that everyone in Signal started avoiding her besides a few hangers-on and desperate guys. At some point, what started as utter chores to do, like making herself look pretty enough to intimidate everyone away became second nature, like a habit cultivated through many years. She did her best to ignore her own instincts to be lazy and just spend time with her sister and focused on improving herself, making herself better, stronger, more unapproachable, if only to make sure people stayed away from her and Ruby. She _had_ to be strong for the two of them, after all. After her father collapsed mentally and Qrow retreated further into alcoholism, she was all Ruby had…

At some point, she feared, she had started driving even her sister away. She _meant_ well, but she abandoned her during the first day of classes, didn’t she? All to spend time with ‘friends’ she never saw again after Initiation, because she had an image to uphold. If Jaune, Weiss, and Blake weren’t there… would Ruby have talked to anyone?

Sometimes, Yang feared that for all she did to protect Ruby, she may have left her isolated as well. Sure, Ruby had her ‘gang’, but how often did Ruby spend time with them? She buried herself in training and weapon-making instead of socializing and had grown into the socially awkward dork she was today. It was a miracle she even made friends, considering how much Yang felt she had screwed up raising Ruby. All because she had changed herself so much to match the image that she felt she started to forget who _she_ was as a result.

_Gods, what if Ruby realizes this? Will she leave me too?_

Finally, at some point, Yang realized that she started buying into her own hype, started thinking herself that confident, strong woman who turned all the heads and attracted all that attention. She never actively tried to be the center of attention, but it had happened, so she had to be that good, right?

_Yeah, right! I couldn’t even talk to Blake the first night without it being an awkward mess!_

At the time she needed confidence the most, her persona failed her. What even was she at this point? Surely not the symmetrical image that scathing eyes had forced her to be, one-sided and easily processed. But what did she have left after that? Some misshapen spark that she feared would be judged by all?

At some point, Yang started to lose track of who she was.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Dragonslayer**!_

Ladykiller: gods dammit yang

Ladykiller: i told you you didn’t need to play big sis _all the time_

Ladykiller: in fact, if you could be less of a big sis, id really appreciate it

Sunshine: oh shut up VB, as if you arent the same

Ladykiller: yeah well the difference is i have older siblings too so i know what its like on both ends

Ladykiller: we talked about this the other night

Sunshine: …yeah

Ladykiller: we’re all ruby’s friends too. you don’t need to do this on your own

Ladykiller: im sure if you explained this to everyone they’d understand.

Ladykiller: ill support you whatever you wanna do. ill keep quiet if that’s what you want

Ladykiller: but i don’t think ruby’s gonna be happy you’re making yourself look dumb and irresponsible to our friends

Sunshine: like you’re one to talk, mr. i faked my transcripts and told everyone about it in the middle of blake’s dramatic reveal!

Ladykiller: i never claimed i was better! we’re both dumbasses!

Ladykiller: that’s why im trying to help you now before you do something stupid!

_Someone is typing…_

Ladykiller: hey, from one sibling to another

Ladykiller: nobody likes it when their siblings are acting stupid

Ladykiller: anw, the stuff weiss rented out is here, and ozpin just told us we could start decorating the music room. Good job there yang

Ladykiller: got to go too, i gotta post a notice on my channel. no uploads today! im so gonna disappoint that new fan who discovered me last night. who was it? _white_angel_of_snow_?

Ladykiller: you there, yang?

Sunshine: …yeah. thanks, jaune. i really owe you one now

Ladykiller: you owe me for the pizza and the place you wrecked the other night

Sunshine: i already said sorry!

Ladykiller: _sorry doesn’t make up for the lien that cost me_

Sunshine: look how about this

Sunshine: ill make sure to put a good word in for you and weiss later. maybe you two can talk. also i know a guy who can get us some alcohol as long as you all keep quiet…

Ladykiller: not sure that’s a good idea. esp the alcohol bit. plus you’re gonna let ruby drink???

Sunshine: i trust you and everyone else will be responsible for her today

Sunshine: you DID say i didn’t need to be big sis all the time

Ladykiller: …fine. but ill get you back for this

Sunshine: oh yeah? i didnt think you had it in you to get back at me, VB

Ladykiller: ill distract pyr so she doesn’t talk with blake about their fanfiction and cartoons all night. that should give you a chance to talk to her.

Sunshine: dammit jaune! i said i wasn’t serious about _that_!

Ladykiller: my sister saph said the same thing about her wife

Sunshine: well im not your older sister! i can handle talking to my partner on my own!

Sunshine: besides, im yang xiao long! Baddest bitch in beacon! i don’t need your help!

Ladykiller: and you don’t need to pretend around us. we all know you’re a dork by now. and we all know how awkward you can be at times

Ladykiller: let your big bro help you out

Sunshine: oh, screw you VB! im not calling you that! pyrrha and blake are corrupting you with their perversions!

\---0---

The talk with Ozpin, much to Yang’s surprise, went well, despite Glynda grumbling after Ozpin called her to his office. Yang had long suspected that Ozpin was the more… playful of the teachers, considering the kind of things the headmaster was willing to allow his students to get away with (like how Ozpin managed to reduce their punishment for the whole docks fiasco to one week). By the time she got out of the elevator leading up to Ozpin’s office, having secured the music room for Ruby’s party, her legs felt like jelly and betrayed her body. She collapsed to the floor in a sigh of relief, the pressures of the entire day weighing down on her like a dozen Ursas had dogpiled her at the same time.

The messages started pouring in: Pyrrha and Nora found Ruby by the flower gardens and the farms (Ruby apparently spent the entire morning feeding the chickens and just… staring at the roses in the garden), and were now trying to distract Ruby until the food was cooked and Weiss and Blake finished decorating the music room; Jaune was desperately trying to fix the sound systems and the other miscellaneous machines Weiss had called in; Ren was heroically grappling with almost a dozen dishes fit for a birthday party. Weiss was busy issuing orders in the JNPR chat, coordinating everyone and ensuring the schedule she drafted (in almost five minutes; it scared Yang how good Weiss was at preparing these detailed and organized timetables in such quick fashion) was being followed to the minute. Yang was thankful for that; her own attempts at throwing parties for Ruby usually just consisted of getting as many cookies as possible and eating as much as they could while playing video games, hoping their dad or Uncle Qrow wouldn’t catch them.

 _Gods, what would I do without them?_ Yang asked, not realizing that she was smiling as she checked the chat. At some point, Yang realized, she was finding it easier and easier to open with everyone, and there was less pressure on her to live up some stranger’s image of her. It was easier with RWBY and JNPR because, as much as she didn’t see it until Jaune had to point it out, nobody really saw her as anything else besides Yang Xiao Long, their comrade and friend. Why would they? None of them knew her before Beacon, but more importantly, none of them _cared_ about this dumb image Yang felt she had to live up to.

Why would they care? Pyrrha certainly wouldn’t, not when she so clearly wanted people to see her for show was instead of what her fame made her ought to be. Ren and Nora wouldn’t care – they had spent most of their lives as orphans, didn’t care much for hiding it, and didn’t really care how other people saw them. Weiss certainly wouldn’t when all she struggled for was to assert who she was. Jaune certainly didn’t care about his reputation, about how others saw him, only his dreams and his goals. So what did Yang’s self-image problems matter to him? And there was _Blake_ , of course…

All they saw was Yang Xiao Long.

 _Well,_ Yang concluded, _I might as well let them see me for who I am_.

\---0---

_Welcome to **juniper berries**!_

Mom: **Weiss Schnee** i met the delivery guys at the air docks

Weiss Schnee: _Then bring them here, you dolt!_ Gods, do I have to tell you how to do everything?!

Mom: yeah, yeah. if anyone needs me, my scroll’s running out of power so ill shut it off for a bit

Weiss Schnee: just hurry up with the karaoke machine!

Son: Weiss, I’m almost done with the food. I’ll need some help to ferry it over to the music room, however.

Weiss Schnee: I’ll send over Blake to help. I can handle the rest myself!

Weiss Schnee: …maybe I’ll send Blake over to help Jaune first so the two of them can help you out there instead.

Son: Understood.

Cereal Girl: Weiss, Ruby is starting to suspect we’re doing something. I think Nora might have accidentally… let some things slip.

Cereal Girl: Nora is currently regaling her right now with one of her stories, but I’m afraid I can’t stall her anymore with cookies, if only because I don’t want to spoil her meal.

Weiss Schnee: _Oh Gods_

Weiss Schnee: Pyrrha, there is a magazine in my room that I keep hidden from Ruby because there is… confidential SDC information in it. I trust all of you can keep a secret?

Son: Yes.

Cereal Girl: Of course.

Weiss Schnee: I want you to head to our dorm, retrieve the magazine, and show it to Ruby. All the experimental weapon technology listed there should tide her over until we’re ready.

Cereal Girl: On it.

Weiss Schnee: Unbelievable. I certainly hope nothing else goes wrong.

Weiss Schnee: What a _terrible_ day. My new favorite DusTuber even put up a notice saying he wasn’t going to update tonight! I was looking forward to the new video!

Aunt Yang: hey guys

Aunt Yang: big sis yang has an announcement to make

Weiss Schnee: What is it _now_ , Yang? Yet another bombshell to drop?

Aunt Yang: …kinda?

Weiss Schnee: …fine. What is it?

Aunt Yang: right. so, I _haven’t_ been entirely honest about today…

\---0---

 _Well, that went well_.

So Weiss got angry, a little bit, when Yang revealed everything, but was thankfully more understanding by the time Yang got to the party venue, only warning Yang not to pull something like this ever again and giving Yang the same speech Blake got at the docks ( _the next time something like this happens you tell the entire team. Got it?)_ Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha didn’t say anything, and Yang suspected that Jaune, that dust-damned meddling dork, had already warned them beforehand. (That, or they all knew the truth already and just willingly played along to Yang’s lies. Honestly, Team JNPR was turning out to be more and more sneaky and shady as the weeks passed… maybe that was why Blake was drawn to them?)

It was Blake that Yang was most worried about, but to her relief, she only gave her an enigmatic smile before proceeding to help Weiss with the rest of the decorations. _Gods_ , why did Blake insist on being mysterious all the time?

At least Weiss transformed the music room into something good. The room was fairly spacious, considering there was a piano in the middle and various instruments kept in their cases around the room. Around the piano were various couches and seats for people to lounge around in and relax, and surrounding the walls were various glass cases with old, probably expensive instruments that Beacon decided was safe to display to hormonal, superpowered teenagers. There was a television off to the corner to the room, where Jaune had set up most of the sound system Weiss rented out, connecting it to the equipment in the recording room to provide better sound and ambiance. The karaoke machine was hooked up to a holo-screen which they set up against the wall at the far end of the room, and they moved the piano away and the couches closer so they could sit nearer to the holo-screen and set up a table where Ren’s food was located. Yang wasn’t sure what Weiss did, but she had dimmed the lights and had some fancy light effects in the room that made it feel like one of her favorite karaoke places (did Weiss ever go to one of those things before? She had to be to capture this level of realism. _Oh gods_ , Yang worried, _was Weiss the type to go to karaoke places on her own?_ A question for another time. She didn’t want to think of Weiss, singing in a booth, alone.)

When Ruby arrived, still engrossed in the advance copy of the SDC weapons and dust magazine (meant primarily for military contractors both working for the Kingdoms and privately-owned) that Weiss owned, the rest had gotten into position. Blake and Weiss had party poppers and had hung up a banner on the wall opposite the doorway, with a large “HAVE A GREAT DAY RUBY” (Weiss had hastily blotted out the beautifully hand-written “happy birthday ruby” sign she worked on the whole afternoon for the messy banner that was up right now) greeting anyone who entered the room. Jaune was in charge of the karaoke machine and had started playing a relatively low-key pop song to set the mood. Ren was watching over the food, looking over everything to make sure it was all perfect. The cake, which Jaune and Ren worked on first, regrettably also had ‘happy birthday’ written on it with icing, but Blake found an easy solution by getting all the ‘birth’ icing out with her fingers. Pyrrha and Nora gingerly brought in the girl of the hour, wearing a blindfold that Nora insisted she wear to ‘make the surprise better’.

Yang, for her part, sat by the karaoke machine, microphone in hand. By unanimous decision, everyone looked to her to welcome Ruby to this little party, and she had asked Jaune to queue up a song she used to sing often to Ruby when they were children. She wasn’t looking forward to all the jokes about how she couldn’t sing well, especially from Weiss, the classically-trained singer, but that was fine. She was among friends. She could let her hair down a little.

She looked at Jaune, who had nodded to her, before pointing to a small box hidden off to the side of the room. Well, there was alcohol, at least. Jaune had suggested they invite some of Ruby’s other friends, alluding to a leader the two had befriended in leadership class (someone named… Cocoa? Yang wasn’t sure) but Yang disagreed, suggesting they keep things between the two teams for now. Maybe in the future, when Ruby _actually_ celebrated her sixteenth. She deserved a memorable sweet sixteenth, anyway.

As Pyrrha and Nora undid Ruby’s blindfold and she gasped at surprise, Yang began laughing at the absurdity of the entire day, how she had started the day in a mess and a panic, how much she worried about ultimately _pointless_ things, how it felt so difficult imagining how to pull off this entire thing on her own. The answer was simple: _she didn’t have to_. She had everyone helping her out, after all. She supposed she was so used to doing things on her own, living up to the image of the untouchable Yang Xiao Long, party girl extraordinaire, that it never occurred to her that she now had friends with her. She glanced at the short message she had sent to Blake, something she finally found the courage to send after she abandoned all the doubt and fear holding her back, the concern that she would look silly trying to have a heart-to-heart with Blake…

\---0---

_Welcome to **bumblebee**!_

queen bee: hey blake

queen bee: after I welcome everyone and do the first song you like

queen bee: wanna hang?

queen bee: feels like we havent hung out in forever

\---0---

Ruby, having recovered from her surprise, now looked at Yang with those wide, questioning silver eyes of hers. Yang threw a smile of her own that was somewhat uneasy at first, but as the notes of her requested song started playing, they grew in confidence, until Yang felt that she was smiling like she wanted to now.

(Everyone beamed at Yang, whose smile was like the sun’s, positively infectious, with a warmth and kindness that made everyone feel safe and secure. Yang, for all her bluster, never realized how much everyone respected her and all she did for their little group, as their unofficial big sister, despite the pain she sometimes caused.)

Yang threw one last glance at her scroll before the song could start.

\---0---

_Welcome to **bumblebee**!_

dream bee: sure, yang. id love to.

\---0---

Somehow, Yang’s smile grew wider. Well, now or never. She wasn’t confident about her singing abilities, but what the hell, might as well set the tone for this karaoke party, right? She may not be all that confident about who she was anymore, now that Ruby seemed to be growing up quickly and she was asking herself what _she_ wanted to be, but she had time now. She could afford to experiment with herself, experiment with the image she had so carefully built up, thanks to all their new friends who wouldn’t judge her too hard.

She took a deep breath and began to sing.

_“Dream of anything… I’ll make it all come true…”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let’s play spot the Yellow trailer references in the chapter! Did you spot any?
> 
> Anyway, you decide what song Yang is singing at the end. I’m not saying it’s Gold or Gold (acoustic), but… 
> 
> Also, Yang and Jaune totally wingman for each other, and you cannot convince me otherwise. Please leave feedback and reviews!


	7. Volume 1.5 (Sunday): second rule! no more pda, esp after last night!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who spent the entire day listening to the Vol. 7 OST instead of finishing this chapter ASAP? (This should have been up way earlier.) Hero is now my new favorite villain song in all of RWBY 😊 What’s your favorite track from the OST?
> 
> Let’s end the first arc with a, well, I can’t say Yang because it’s a Pyrrha chapter we’re ending on. But, well, have a Pyrrha chapter to round us off! Both to get all seven colors of the rainbow in, and so we can write the last day of the week in. Seven colors, seven days, seven viewpoints. Honestly, would it surprise anyone if I mention I hope to write seven arcs in total, even if it means taking a long hiatus from this fic while waiting for new volumes to come out? It’s like poetry. 
> 
> (What’s that, we have eight main characters? Why doesn’t someone get his own chapter? Well…)

_Welcome to **juniper berries**!_

Rich Neighbor Weiss: ow my head

Rich Neighbor Weiss: ow my sore throat

Rich Neighbor Weiss: gods

Rich Neighbor Weiss: who brought in the alcohol last night?!

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: who else

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: im surprised yang had the lien to afford the stuff honestly

_Cat Lady Neighbor Blake uploaded a photo!_

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: also, ruby’s curled up in a corner and yang’s snoring away, but where’s the rest of you

Son: I’m at the common room kitchen.

Son: Pyrrha and Jaune returned to our dorms, and Jaune is teaching Pyrrha, ah…

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: Vomit etiquette?

Son: Vomit etiquette.

Son: Some of you are not taking to last night’s activities well, so Jaune and I figured we’d prepare some things to help with everyone’s hangovers.

Son: We’ll be finished in a bit.

Rich Neighbor Weiss: i _cannot_ believe that my years-long streak of abstaining from alcohol was broken last night

Daughter: I didn’t know you were into the straight-edge lifestyle, Weiss!

Rich Neighbor Weiss: i try to avoid consuming alcohol besides social events

Rich Neighbor Weiss: besides, not having a hangover right now is infinitely preferable to alcoholism!

Rich Neighbor Weiss: and how are you so chipper, Nora? where are you even?

Daughter: I’m with Ren, duh.

Rich Neighbor Weiss: cant even type right in my scroll and apparently here you are being, well, you, despite the alcohol intake

Daughter: Pssh, it’s more like you’re all lightweights, honestly.

Daughter: Ren and I are used to drinking _way_ stronger stuff.

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: don’t you complain that ren overspends on alcohol if you dont keep an eye on him

Daughter: Yes, but even I have to admit Ren has _fantastic_ taste. It’s just a shame the good stuff is expensive.

Rich Neighbor Weiss: and what about Jaune? How come he isn’t vomiting all over yang’s shoes by now? [edited]

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: nice edit weiss

Son: Jaune _was_ about to do that early this morning, but he’s developed a habit of spending early Sunday mornings doing a few laps around the school, and he wasn’t about to miss it now, even if he was looking slightly green when we left the music room.

Son: I hope, for all our sakes, that none of you must pass by any of Jaune’s usual jogging routes today.

_Dad uploaded a photo!_

_Dad uploaded a video!_

_Dad played a video!_

Dad: oh crap

Dad: sorry you all had to see pyr like that

Dad: she was insistent on holding onto her scroll the entire time before i took it away

Rich Neighbor Weiss: you better not be doing anything improper to pyrrha there, jaune! [edited]

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: weiss does ‘jaune’ _really_ autocorrect to dunce on your scroll?

Rich Neighbor Weiss: oh, shush, you! i can see you smirking from underneath all those blankets you’re hiding under!

Daughter: Don’t worry, this isn’t their first rodeo!

Daughter: Besides, Yang and Pyrrha were _way_ more improper last night, and I have the video to prove it! Three-drink Yang strikes again!

Rich Neighbor Weiss: gods, what did they even do

Daughter: Well, Yang _tried_ to do someone–

Son: Something.

Daughter: – _something_ , and Pyrrha was almost game to go along with it until Jaune came back

Rich Neighbor Weiss: you know what, forget i asked

Daughter: Yeah, you probably want to forget a lot of stuff that went down last night.

Daughter: Like after you and our Fearless Leader had your little chat you thought nobody noticed and you started hogging Ren and Jaune to yourself and making them pour you drinks and pretend they were your butlers and your next order was they had to serve their master in _every way imaginable_

Rich Neighbor Weiss: _i did what_

Dad: guys please dont remind pyrrha of what she did last night shes dying of embarrassment here

\---0---

Pyrrha Nikos was a liar.

There were the terrible lies, of course, the damaging lies that destroy trust, the lies that people keep from each other to avoid hurting the other party, and there are the lies meant to protect, knowing full well that the truth was something not everyone was emotionally prepared to handle at that moment. And then there were the little white lies, the lies that Pyrrha felt were harmless and didn’t need stating, because they were _private_ and putting it out in the open contributed nothing to the current situation. Pyrrha never felt the need to expose those lies. They were theirs and theirs alone, and Pyrrha felt they had a right to their secrets.

(White lies included telling Jaune she was _fine_ , she merely wanted to go back to their dorms, and while she, like Yang, had a tendency to vomit when drunk, it wasn’t as bad as Jaune was making it out, even if she did like the way Jaune’s hands caressed her back as she leaned on the sink to get it all out, rubbing against her back muscles as he soothed her with that tone of voice Pyrrha knew Jaune reserved for his loved ones. Other lies included convincing Jaune she was embarrassed, that she needed more help now, that he could attend to the others later, knowing full well that her partner most likely dealt with his own hangover earlier in the morning with nobody around to support him. Well, _she_ was his partner, and she was _not_ letting him leave right now when he needed a little break before running off to attend to everyone else.)

Lying was part and parcel of the fame that had accompanied her ever since her first victory at the Mistralian Regional Tournaments. As a celebrity, you had to be mindful of almost everything, from the armor you had to wear to the food you ate to the tone you adopted when answering questions, and when you were fresh off a hard-fought victory and wanted nothing more than to just return to your lockers and soothe your aching muscles, the last thing you wanted to do was answer useless questions from nosy interviewers.

The questions were fairly rote and predictable, especially for the diehard fans of the tournaments, and most were softballs that interviewers threw out to overwhelm celebrities, but Pyrrha had to answer _some_ of them (it would be incredibly impolite if she didn’t answer any!) so she responded to the easy question of _what are your plans for future tournaments?_

 _Well,_ she stated, with that neutral smile she had yet to perfect, her voice quivering with uncertainty (she suspected that she could only squeak out a reply thanks to the adrenaline in her veins after a hard-fought match), _I’m not quite sure. I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may._

Pyrrha, having grown up on the northern part of the continent of Anima, was well-versed in multiple languages and dialects, with her hometown’s old language (developed long, long before the Kingdom of Mistral ratified the ‘official’ Mistralian language, to the dismay of almost twenty other representatives, each with their own language and cultures to represent) and the Valean common tongue being her preferred languages. The interviewer had asked a question in Valean, and she responded in kind.

The problem was one of translation: in the Valean tongue, the words ‘fate’ and ‘destiny’ carried similar meanings and connotations, but in the old Mistralian tongue, the two words had subtle nuances that differentiated the two concepts. When she chose the Valean turn of phrase, her intention was to show her belief that regardless of what happens in the future, she was going to pursue her goals, but the nuances were lost to most of the people in the crowd, as well as the people reporting on her win. Comparisons were immediately made to a famous Mistralian legend from centuries past, an invincible warrior who was part of a decade-long siege against an enemy city-state. She was comparing herself to an invincible warrior _fated_ to victory, _destined_ for greatness. Pyrrha Nikos, despite her best efforts, had proclaimed that she was the second coming of such a legend, that she was allowing _fate_ to take control of her life, that she was going to live up to some heroic _destiny_.

In some of the classic plays and tragedies preserved in her hometown, the focus was always on heroes who were ordained by Fate to play crucial roles in the history of mankind. But _fate_ was not _destiny_ , because while fate was something assigned to you by the gods, it was your responsibly to shape your _destiny_. Destiny, Pyrrha learned, was something that heroes pursued relentlessly, not something handed to them on a silver platter. The turning point for most heroes in the old stories was their determination to achieve what they saw as their _destiny_ , to rush headlong into their end out of their own _choice_. And choice was an important nuance in the old Mistralian tongue that divided the idea of fate and destiny, compared to the Valean tongue, where fate and destiny were synonymous.

By the time she won her third tournament, people had begun calling her the ‘Invincible Girl’, a moniker not dissimilar to the invincible warrior of the legends. And people began to believe that she _was_ destined for great things. She did, too. She just spoke old Mistralian, and most of her fans read the quote in Valean.

Pyrrha was perhaps too young to realize the implications of her words, but as the years passed and her fame grew, she began to realize, in horror, that her words unintentionally made her out to be a liar, at least in the Valean tongue. Because she _wasn’t_ going to let the chips fall where they may – it just so happened that she could control the way the chips fell. Her semblance, the ability to control most objects with metal in it, represented her more than she cared to admit, because while to the rest of the word Pyrrha Nikos was a brilliant genius (a word her trainer scoffed at) who was fated to achieve great things, she was determined to take control of destiny her own way, even if she had to be silent about her abilities and give off little white lies about what she could or could not do.

That interview was the first time Pyrrha Nikos discovered the virtues of lying.

\---0---

_Welcome to **juniper berries**!_

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: i have to say, pyr being vomit girl for once is hilarious

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: its like the title to one of those superhero comics jaune likes so much

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: the adventures of vomit boy and vomit girl

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: short, sweet, rolls of the tongue. i bet the ladies _love_ it. right, **Mom**?

Mom: oh ha ha very funny

Mom: im sure ms. Tiger & Dragon hasn’t written anything as cringy

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: !!!

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: how do you know that jaune

Mom: not telling

Mom: but should you really be messaging pyr for fanfic ideas this early in the morning

Mom: esp when shes vomiting n someone else is holding onto her scroll

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: _jaune arc you are a dead man_

Mom: you n your partner wish!

Mom: i know your too hungover to get to the kitchen before i hide myself so there

Mom: i quite like my limbs and my spine thank you very much

_Someone is typing…_

Daughter: **NOOOOOOOOO**

_Daughter **booped** Dad!_

_Daughter **booped** Aunt Yang!_

Daughter: Pyrrha can’t be vomit girl! That’s two-drink Yang’s title!

Rich Neighbor Weiss: Nora, _please_ , some of us are trying to sleep! Don’t ping or make sudden noises in the chat now, my headache is killing me!

Rich Neighbor Weiss: Think about poor Pyrrha, she must be _suffering_ right now.

Dad: I’m fine, I promise. I have our dorm all to myself, after all.

Dad: Ren brought me some water and fruit to munch on. He and Jaune are making breakfast right now. You should probably get up already as well.

Dad: Also, you should probably wake up Ruby and Yang.

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: i refuse

Rich Neighbor Weiss: I refuse

\---0---

Pyrrha’s decision to move to Beacon was, in part, a chance for her to shed the image of the ‘Invincible Girl’, as futile as it sounded. But the primary motivation, for Pyrrha, was that she could perhaps shed that part of her that lied constantly to everyone.

She understood that she was on a pedestal, that people looked up to her as a role model. She didn’t resent that of people – she understood how important it was for people to be comforted, to believe in people powerful enough to protect them. All her life she had wanted to be a Huntress and protect people – she believed it was her destiny – and the tournaments were simply a way to sharpen her skill, and perhaps provide for her family as well. They were never the most well-off, before the tournament success, but they had always supported her desire to better herself, to become powerful and achieve that goal.

What she resented, however, was how her image was built up largely beyond her control, how people saw her as a fighting genius destined to save the world. How the role she had unintentionally put on herself forced her to lie, forced her into being the ‘Invincible Girl’, forced her to wear the kind of armor that she wore, more for appearance than practicality, forced her to do sponsorships for companies that ‘fit’ her image, forced her to claim Pumpkin Pete’s was a good cereal (it certainly was… tasty… but she always felt like she needed to burn a _lot_ of calories after a bowl), forced her to _always_ be polite and cheerful even if a fan was a bit too grabby for her liking or if scandalous rumors spread about her simply because she was talking to that friendly fan who just wanted to talk to her. (Pyrrha had lost count of how many times tabloids would run headlines of her interacting with some guy who ran into her during a morning jog, or girls at the gym who would walk up to her in the middle of a particularly grueling set to ask for autographs.)

Moving to Beacon meant, hopefully, that she would do less of that. She knew that her fame would follow her, but the Kingdom of Vale was not the Kingdom of Mistral, it was in fact a continent away, and she hoped to lie less, at least to other people.

Unfortunately, during the day of Initiation, Pyrrha had to lie _again_.

She didn’t have anything against Weiss, not really, even if Weiss was a bit pushy at first. Pyrrha was no expert at social interaction, having distanced herself from most relationships once she realized her fame was a double-edged sword, but even she knew that Weiss meant well, even if it was blatant that she was suffering from a really bad case of hero-worship (Pyrrha worried if Weiss was like many of her younger, female fans, many of whom claimed to be totally in love with her through correspondences and… unsavory scroll messages… but it was too early to judge, Pyrrha admonished herself) and seemed the type to not take no for an example.

Which was why Pyrrha found it amusing when Jaune joined their conversation, doing the same thing to Weiss that Weiss was doing to Pyrrha.

Pyrrha wasn’t a vindictive person, no, but she wasn’t exactly pleased that she had to pull out the _let the chips fall where they may_ line for Weiss, mostly because she didn’t want to explain the intricacies of fate and destiny in the Valean tongue to someone she had just met that day, even if she was aware of the Schnee name. It was just easier that way.

Part of her was glad that Jaune seemed to distract the heiress from bugging her even further, even if it was clear a part of him was _really_ invested in getting her to pay attention to him instead. Pyrrha had long accepted that people were complex, that they could choose to do things for two completely different reasons, even if sometimes these reasons were at odds with one another. Which was why she didn’t mind that Jaune was a little cringy in his attempts to woo the heiress – they were hormonal, dumb teenagers, she felt, they deserved to be somewhat cringy, even if Pyrrha herself never had the chance to work out her own hormones – and only put up a token effort to get Jaune to stop hitting on Weiss. She also didn’t mind that Jaune had no idea who she was, at times bordering on ignorance, because it just made the moment he extended the offer to her to be part of ‘Team Jaune’ all the better. For all that the blonde dork was enamored with Weiss, he was still mindful of her presence and extended the invitation. She was just a stranger to him, and yet Jaune had made the offer for them to be friends.

(Nowadays, Pyrra felt, things were better now between her and the heiress, but she couldn’t deny that there were some lingering resentment. But Pyrrha didn’t _hate_ her, and it certainly wasn’t Weiss’ fault Pyrrha was uneasy sometimes with her…)

It was a petty thing, she knew, because Weiss had made the same offer and she had dismissed it because she didn’t want to be partnered with someone who saw her as the ‘Invincible Girl’, but it felt as if meeting Jaune was the first step for Pyrrha to grow out of the lies she had crafted for herself. Pyrrha prided herself on how, contrary to the image Valean newspapers crafed, most of her life was defined by her choices. It was her choice to be a huntress, her choice to present herself a certain way to live up to everyone’s expectations, her choice to go to Beacon instead of Haven. As if in defiance of this misunderstanding the world seemed to have about her, Pyrrha had insisted on asserting her agency. Pyrrha Nikos was _destined_ to be a Huntress, and she was going to achieve it, one way or another.

Meeting Jaune, however, was Fate. Because she never had a choice in the matter. He was never a part of her plans, had no room in her destiny. He was not the best fighter, nor did he have any heroic lineage to him that would assist her in saving the world. He was something that Fate dropped in her life, almost as an obstacle.

 _Well_ , Pyrrha decided, _I would not be much of an ‘Invincible Girl’ if I didn’t try to fight my Fate._ So she decided, then and there, that Jaune’s presence was going to be part of her destiny.

So she lied again. _Actually, Jaune, I think you’d be a great leader_.

\---0---

_Welcome to **juniper berries**!_

Rich Neighbor Weiss: Wait, he didn’t make you drink that weird sludge he practically forced down my throat?!

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: phrasing, weiss

Dad: …no? Ren gave me some water and fruit and left.

Dad: How are you feeling now, by the way?

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: better after washing up, but ren’s weird health drink is going to give me nightmares

Rich Neighbor Weiss: I’m feeling better now as well, although I do feel rather peckish. Are Ren and Jaune finished cooking? [edited]

Son: Almost.

Rich Neighbor Weiss: Thank you for all the help, Ren. I was worried that today would start off on the wrong foot, but your assistance was invaluable.

Son: You should also thank Jaune, since he was the one who forced me to wake up early to do morning stretches and decided we prepare all this.

Rich Neighbor Weiss: …I suppose.

Rich Neighbor Weiss: Considering everything, yesterday turned out well, even if my new favorite ASMR channel failed to update last night.

Dad: I’m sure he was busy with other commitments, Weiss.

_Someone is typing…_

Adopted Sister Ruby: why do people like drinking? my head hurts!

Dad: Good morning, Ruby. Feeling better?

Adopted Sister Ruby: **no**

Adopted Sister Ruby: also, why are we chatting in team jnpr’s chat???

Daughter: Everyone went wild last night and you got mad everyone else was in the JNPR chat and you weren’t.

Daughter: You got _really_ weepy. Like Yang after three drinks level of weepy.

Adopted Sister Ruby: right, ok so

Adopted Sister Ruby: official team ruling: no alcohol allowed. Ever

Adopted Sister Ruby: that goes for team jnpr too. as your official second-in-command i call the shots

Daughter: Yeah? Well, I only listen to _my_ Fearless Leader!

Daughter: No offense, Ruby.

Adopted Sister Ruby: none taken!

Adopted Sister Ruby: besides, jaune and I already have plans in mind in case you ever, yknow, get uppity

Adopted Sister Ruby: lets just say jaune’s left explicit recorded commands in case of an untimely demise

Dad: Not that I wish to interrupt your conversation about our team’s chain of command, but I heard Yang swearing up a storm in the hallways. Should we be worried?

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: no, she says she wants to sweat the hangover out

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: i know, it sounds stupid, but you don’t want to tell a grumpy hungover yang what to do

Mom: guys

Mom: food’s ready

Mom: come and get it

_Mom uploaded a photo!_

Rich Grandma Weiss: Do we have any coffee?

Son: Yes, Weiss. We also prepared coffee. The kind you like.

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: jaune is that _salmon_? for breakfast?

Mom: yeah? yang n i bought some for you the other day when we did our food run

Mom: we also got eggs n bacon n slightly burnt toast

Mom: we got some fruit too since apparently you need tons of protein and water when you’re hungover

Mom: at least thats what saph says

Cat Lady Neighbor Blake: _i could hug you right now jaune_

Rich Grandma Weiss: Brunch first!

Adopted Sister Ruby: second rule! no more pda, esp after last night!

\---0---

The thing about Jaune was that he had a way of making the people around him better, even if he didn’t realize it. (That was how Jaune got Pyrrha and Blake to be friends, after all.)

Looking back on that first day, Pyrrha could admit that she was simply comforting the knight, who looked hurt (in a way that distressed Pyrrha; it looked like the pain of someone who was used to hearing others put him down) at Weiss’ dismissal of him. It didn’t help that Jaune’s eyes lit up at the compliment, like a puppy starved for affection, and Pyrrha’s heart _ached_ when all the confidence her compliment gave him deflated once more once Weiss got fed up with him. It was narcissistic, she felt, but she could relate to it – she had once been like that, too.

Not many people knew this, but Pyrrha as a child was complete garbage at all the combat skills required of being a huntress – she had no sense of coordination, her stamina was poor, she was sickly, and she didn’t have the heart to try and hurt anyone. Sure, it was easier when you fought Grimm, but Huntresses were expected to keep the peace, which mean they would also come into conflict with fellow humans sooner or later.

That all changed when she met her old trainer. The story was well-known in circles around Mistral, how Pyrrha was picked out by a famous Huntress who was getting on in age, who chose to take her on as an apprentice. What they didn’t know was the nearly ten week-long campaign Pyrrha undertook, begging at the door of the retired Huntress to let her in to no avail. The walls of the Huntress’ home was simply unassailable through conventional means, and it was only through the crafty advice of a friend that Pyrrha was able to sneak into the Huntress’ sanctum (it involved a wooden horse; don’t ask) and gain an audience with the amused fighter.

Years later, her trainer would tell her that she agreed to train her not because she had any hidden talent, or genius, or some secret lineage that meant she needed to be trained. _It ain’t potential you got, kiddo_ , her trainer started to say, _because everyone has potential. Don’t believe the fools who just rely on talent_.

Talent _was_ real, her trainer told her, but all the talent meant nothing if the person in question wasn’t interested in cultivating it. To put it in terms that Pyrrha understood, some people were _fated_ to be good warriors, but it wasn’t necessarily their _destiny_. Destiny, after all, was something you pursued.

And when Pyrrha never gave up, proved herself determined to reach her dream of being a Huntress, everything be damned, her trainer acquiesced and unlocked her aura.

Pyrrha considered herself lucky that she had met someone who was willing to believe in her, and as a result, she found her talents and opportunities to take advantage of that talent, and she felt the same was true for Jaune. All he needed was a _push_ – that stray compliment about him being a good leader may not have necessarily been true, but that had pushed the blonde knight into taking on the leadership role during Initiation. The two teams had only known each other for a short while and barely had the time to explain their combat skills, but Jaune immediately understood the balance of the teams and had made the call to leave the giant Nevermore to the future Team RWBY while he moved to help out the future JNPR in whatever way he could. Pyrrha wasn’t about to lie and say that Jaune was a _natural_ at the leadership role, but when it became clear that nobody else in their impromptu team was willing to step up to the role, Jaune forced himself to grow into the role they all needed him to take on.

It was then that Pyrrha realized that _this wasn’t how things were supposed to happen_. She only chose to go with Jaune because she didn’t feel there were any better options, and Jaune seemed harmless, but everything else, from Jaune’s almost suicidal ignorance of Aura to his overwhelming lack of combat ability, was beyond her calculations. His idiocy forced Pyrrha to unlock his aura despite how difficult (and intimate, Pyrrha reminded herself) the act was, and by that point, the destiny of the two were irrevocably linked. She had sworn her soul to his, to protect him from harm, and she was fully prepared to go through with that oath. She was even prepared to lie about Jaune’s Aura capabilities, if only to make him feel confident enough to not curl up and die at the first sight of a Grimm, but at least Jaune had _that_ going for him. One less lie for Pyrrha to make.

The thing was, Jaune tended to turn Pyrrha’s lies into truths. Instead of letting the chips fall where they may, she actively sought out Jaune as her partner. From her simple lie, Jaune showed enough skill (or guts) to convince Ozpin to elect him team leader, and despite some growing pains, Jaune strove to grow into the role, even if he felt himself unworthy of it. Nowadays, Pyrrha could confidently state that Jaune _was_ a good leader, even if his combat skills lagged behind that of all of his friends. Once Jaune realized that he was trying to live up to an ideal that he himself didn’t believe in, he found himself thriving by focusing on the skills he was most inclined to – support, backup, strategy. Pyrrha hit her stride the same way, when her trainer understood her instincts and how she preferred to use her semblance, and trained her how to use her semblance subtly, not as a battering ram used to brute-force her way through fights.

Jaune found a way to make her _other_ lies into truths as well. She certainly was frosty towards Weiss early in the semester due to how the heiress treated her partner, but Jaune’s rather cute crush on her forced Pyrrha to be polite to Weiss at the very least, and once she got to know the heiress, she began to understand that Weiss was simply bad at expressing herself, and generally meant well. Early on in the semester, Jaune had made a stray observation about Blake ( _Blake sure likes reading erotic literature)_ and Pyrrha, more out of politeness than anything, opted to reply ( _please don’t tell anyone else this, but I’ve… ah… read some of those novels before._ ) just to keep the conversation going. It wasn’t a _complete_ lie – she was a growing teenage girl, after all, with needs and interests of her own. It wasn’t her fault her mother left those novels lying around! But she wasn’t the kind of dedicated fan who read all the _Ninjas_ _of Love_ series in public, even if Blake hid the cover with the dust jackets of more reputable books. It was just a minor detail she threw out: being partners with Jaune made Pyrrha realize that Jaune was the type of person who hated when someone felt left out of a conversation, and there wasn’t any harm admitting this to her closest friend in Beacon. This wasn’t Argus, after all, where her tastes and interests were under constant scrutiny.

Even at the height of her disagreements with Jaune and the fracture that caused the team, Pyrrha realized that Jaune still had the team’s best interests in mind, which was why he had let it slip to Blake that Pyrrha was ‘avid reader’ of her beloved series and had done the same to Pyrrha to distract her. Jaune certainly was crafty, even if he wasn’t subtle, but…

So her friendship with Blake started with a little white lie. She wasn’t as passionate a fan as Blake, but she suspected Blake knew that too. If Blake was going to pretend that she wasn’t watching over Jaune and his bullying problem (out of some powerful sense of justice and desire to protect the weak rather than any interest in the person himself, Pyrrha hoped/suspected) then Pyrrha could pretend she was a bigger fan of the series than she actually was. Besides, she always wanted a female friend that shared interests with her.

That little lie slowly became the truth, however, as Blake and Jaune both helped her through the series, even with how slow she was as a reader. It helped that some of the other books Blake liked received adaptations in the forms of Mistralian cartoons, and _that_ Pyrrha genuinely loved, and soon the two became more obsessed with Mistralian cartoons in general. Soon their friendship had blossomed into a comfortable partnership writing fanfiction of their own and discussing novels or cartoons in the library in between classes or sparring sessions. Sometimes they would work on their fanfiction. Sometimes Blake would hang out at the rooftop Pyrrha and Jaune practiced on (purely for book-reading reasons, Blake claimed) and _sure_ , maybe sometimes Jaune would feel bad at how Blake seemed to want to initiate conversations with Yang but her own insecurities and trust issues held her back (Blake never talked about _what_ held her back, but Pyrrha always felt that they were deep-seated and she was not equipped to handle them, so she and Jaune silently agreed to just be _there_ for the cat faunus) so he would invite Blake and Yang to hang out with him and Pyrrha. That always seemed to be Team JNPR’s modus operandi: distract ‘em until the opportunity presented itself to strike. And sure enough, Blake had become more comfortable around the two of them that she could make these little jokes and insinuations towards her, and at some point the playful side of Blake’s personality began to emerge when she started teasing Jaune and his various idiosyncrasies (a fact that Yang and Blake bonded over, the basis of her friendship with Jaune being that as well), and Pyrrha could trust Blake enough that she couldn’t get mad at her because it was _mostly_ Blake just messing with them.

All this from a lie, Pyrrha mused. Thankfully, a certain someone managed to turn her lies into truths, even if it wasn’t supposed to be this way.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW**!_

Big Kitty Goth GF: i cant believe they kicked us out of the team jnpr chat

SunnyLittleDragon: whats wrong with our chat???

Big Kitty Goth GF: nothing!

Big Kitty Goth GF: its just nice to be part of a chat that isn’t filled 24/7 with dog photos

Big Kitty Goth GF: _ruby_

Ren-sensei: I’m not sure you’d say that if you catch us on a day Nora and Jaune decide to shitpost.

Ren-sensei: The other day Nora flooded our chat with videos of, uh,

Ren-sensei: “pancake ASMR”

Cereal Girl: It was mostly gifs and short videos of people pouring syrup on pancakes

Ren-sensei: or that time Jaune was annoyed that none of us were reading the team documents so he posted it in the chat

Ren-sensei: _Line by line_

Ren-sensei: That was why we had to call in Ruby to the chat the first time, to get him to stop.

Snow Angel: Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone reign in _our_ leader when she goes too far with her own messages?

Big Kitty Goth GF: you know I can’t control ruby, and yang is more of an enabler type of person

SunnyLittleDragon: hey you’re the second in command not me

Big Kitty Goth GF: not by choice! im p sure i don’t have what it takes to lead anything!

Cereal Girl: I don’t know, I think you would make a great leader, Blake.

Big Kitty Goth GF: pyr i know you’re just saying that to be nice

Big Kitty Goth GF: not that i dont appreciate the vote of confidence 😉

SunnyLittleDragon: blakey while i love this whole hitting on half of team jnpr thing you have going on right now you may want to keep things to your private chat

Big Kitty Goth GF: whats the problem, jealous?

SunnyLittleDragon: hell no

Vomit Boy: yes you are and i have proof

SunnyLittleDragon: _you got a death wish VB_

Vomit Boy: no i just want you not to use your semblance in the kitchen again

Vomit Boy: and if getting beat up means getting you to stop then I don’t mind

Vomit Boy: i mean, the toast was fine! slightly burnt, but fine!

SunnyLittleDragon: you’ve been getting cheeky lately VB i dont like it

Ren-sensei: As loath as I am to fight you on this, Yang, Jaune has a point.

Ren-sensei: We’re still cleaning up _your_ mess after all.

SunnyLittleDragon: i said i was sorry!

SunnyLittleDragon: besides i _know_ you wanna fight me again i bet your salty i handed you your ass last week

Ren-sensei: …maybe.

Ren-sensei: Not today, however.

_Someone is typing…_

Queen of the Castle: **What’s with the hold-up, people?!**

Queen of the Castle: I can’t test the new and upgraded Magnhild without test dummies!

SunnyLittleDragon: omw nora, chill

SunnyLittleDragon: yo pyr you still down for a spar after this?

Cereal Girl: Of course, Yang.

_RedLikeStrawberries uploaded a photo!_

RedLikeStrawberries: oh im so excited to see the new grenade launcher upgrade in action

Vomit Boy: wait you went through with the grenade launcher modification???

RedLikeStrawberries: yeah, yesterday when i was with nora and pyrrha

Vomit Boy: oh no

Vomit Boy: i havent filed the weapon modification form yet! glynda’s gonna kill me!

Snow Angel: Ruby, what did you do to Nora’s weapon? Also, where are you?

RedLikeStrawberries: on the cliffs overseeing emerald forest

Big Kitty Goth GF: why there?

RedLikeStrawberries: lots of empty space, grimm are regularly cleaned out, it’s a safe spot for what we wanna do

RedLikeStrawberries: also weiss i upgraded Nora’s grenade launcher for more explosive power

RedLikeStrawberries: most of the mechanics in the workshop refused to try my design so i had to do it myself

Queen of the Castle: Yeah! My grenades are gonna fly in this cool heart shape too!

Snow Angel: That sounds like a terrible idea, Ruby! Why can’t you take it to the training room?!

Queen of the Castle: What, and blow up the training room with everyone in it? Don’t be silly, Weiss!

Snow Angel: This is _beyond_ silly, Nora! That sounds dangerous! Ruby, _don’t_ encourage her!

Snow Angel: Also, what even are you going to do there, Yang?!

SunnyLittleDragon: nora needs to test the new mode versus human opponents too, and im the most suited for it here with my semblance

Big Kitty Goth GF: yang, are you seriously going to let nora lob grenades at you

SunnyLittleDragon: eh why not, i need practice with my semblance anyway

Vomit Boy: nora i _just_ filed our ammunition requisition forms please don’t use up your grenade supply in one go

Queen of the Castle: Oh, it’ll be fine! We don’t have anything major coming up in the next two weeks besides the end of semester exams anyway!

Vomit Boy: what about the combat exam???

Queen of the Castle: That’s exactly why we need to test the new upgrade!

Ren-sensei: Jaune, I don’t want to admit it, but Nora has a point.

Vomit Boy: dude im like cleaning up in the kitchen we can just talk in person

Ren-sensei: My apologies.

Snow Angel: Wait.

Snow Angel: Wait wait wait wait _wait_.

Snow Angel: _Exams are in two weeks?_

Vomit Boy: yeah?

Queen of the Castle: Yeah?

Snow Angel: _How could I forget about the exams_? I’ve barely begun to prepare!

Big Kitty Goth GF: …maybe you had your calendar in your binder?

Snow Angel: I have a separate binder for academic concerns!

Ren-sensei: We _have_ been busy the past week with detention to worry about the upcoming exams.

Cereal Girl: I’m not sure why you’re so worried, Weiss. Surely you’ll ace all our exams.

Snow Angel: Pyrrha, thank you for the compliment, that’s very sweet of you, but _we still need to prepare for them_.

Snow Angel: I barely did any studying _this week_!

Ren-sensei: It’s not like we have any big events to worry about in the next few weeks. You can start reviewing now, Weiss.

Snow Angel: Good idea. I should prepare a schedule for reviewing.

Cereal Girl: Good luck with that, Weiss.

Snow Angel: Wait. Wait wait wait. I have an idea.

Snow Angel: Pyrrha, what say you and I team up and review for the exams together? Surely the two smartest girls among the first years can pass the tests easily.

Snow Angel: We can prepare with Nora and Ren too! I’m sure they haven’t reviewed either.

Cereal Girl: I’m flattered, but I already have a study group with Blake and Jaune, and we have our own… rhythm to things.

Ren-sensei: Nora’s already prepared for the end of term exams – she did all her studying at the beginning of the semester.

Ren-sensei: She’s also tutoring me, and before you ask, no, you do not want to be tutored by her unless you either have a lot of aura or a semblance that lets you suppress emotions.

Big Kitty Goth GF: so _that’s_ why nora has so much free time

Cereal Girl: There is a reason Nora’s grades are perpetually hovering in the top percentage even with all the demerits she gets from Professor Goodwitch.

Snow Angel: _This is the first I’m hearing of this!_

Vomit Boy: were you not paying attention to nora’s stories? half of them are like about her preparing in advance for exams

Snow Angel: I can’t be expected to listen to all of Nora’s stories!

Snow Angel: No offense, Nora.

Queen of the Castle: None taken!

Snow Angel: Also, why are you tutoring Blake as well, Pyrrha? I would have thought Blake’s already caught up with all our studies, considering how much time she spends reading.

Cereal Girl: I mean, you _say_ that, but…

Vomit Boy: she reads mostly, uh

Big Kitty Goth GF: go ahead and finish that sentence jaune

Big Kitty Goth GF: i hear you want to learn more about gambol shroud

Vomit Boy: … _specialized_ literature

Big Kitty Goth GF: nice save

Cereal Girl: Besides, it isn’t like Blake has a lot of formal education, considering her… background. I think her only good subject is History.

Snow Angel: Oh.

Snow Angel: That’s true.

Snow Angel: I apologize, Blake. I forgot about that.

Big Kitty Goth GF: nah we’re cool. besides, nora and ren didn’t go to a combat school either and they seem ok

Ren-sensei: I will admit, I still struggle with the curriculum sometimes, but Nora’s helped me through a lot of it.

Ren-sensei: She decided to blitz through all the material in the first week, after all.

Cereal Girl: I’d suggest you join us, Weiss, but we already have our schedule mapped out and you may be dissatisfied with our pace.

Snow Angel: No, no, it’s fine. I suppose I’ll study on my own.

Vomit Boy: …i mean, ruby’s still struggling with grimm studies and you know she skipped two years so she doesn’t know a lot of this stuff

Cereal Girl: She _did_ mention yesterday that she was still shaky with some of the other subjects you share with her

Big Kitty Goth GF: also, i know yang’s not done any serious studying

Snow Angel: …right. All valid points.

Snow Angel: I’ll take those two into consideration. I _suppose_ it wouldn’t hurt to help them out, and it should help me focus my own studying.

Cereal Girl: We could always cram together the night before exams as well. I’ve never gotten to do that back in Sanctum.

Snow Angel: That sounds _highly_ irresponsible. I, for one, have never crammed for an exam in my life.

Vomit Boy: aw, come on weiss, cramming is fun if you’re with friends

Snow Angel: Maybe for you, Jaune! [edited]

Queen of the Castle: We could always turn the cramming session into another sleepover!

Queen of the Castle: Ren and I always wanted to have one of those!

Ren-sensei: We’ve never really gone to a formal school before, so this should be a novel experience.

Cereal Girl: That sounds wonderful, you two! I’m looking forward to it!

Big Kitty Goth GF: i wouldn’t mind, it sounds fun

Vomit Boy: wait, so none of you ever got to try that out before?

Snow Angel: …I suppose it couldn’t hurt to try.

_RedLikeStrawberries uploaded a streaming video!_

_RedLikeStrawberries played a video over the chat!_

RedLikeStrawberries: guys!

RedLikeStrawberries: we’re gonna start the first round of testing!

RedLikeStrawberries: check it out!

\---0---

Pyrrha could have sworn that she felt the dust-fueled explosion, followed by the outburst of flame and aura-enhanced shockwaves, in her _bones_ , and that was no lie or exaggeration. At the very least, both Nora and Yang forced Pyrrha to be honest. There was no denying the raw _power_ , the sheer straightforwardness and directness those two possessed. In the face of their overwhelming approaches to life, how could Pyrrha do anything more than be swept away in their antics?

\---0---

_Welcome to **Milk and Cereal**!_

Ruby Rose: hey pyrrha

Pyrrha Nikos: Ruby!

Pyrrha Nikos: Oh, I do hope you three are alright.

Pyrrha Nikos: I was worried when you levelled all those trees and almost started a forest fire.

Ruby Rose: yeah, miss goodwitch wasnt happy abt that

Ruby Rose: im just glad jaune somehow got all the forms approved in time

Ruby Rose: not sure how since miss goodwitch signs most of the forms…

Pyrrha Nikos: well, where are you three now

Ruby Rose: we just got out of a scolding from her office

Ruby Rose: we almost got detention for the entire thing but professor ozpin convinced professor goodwitch that it was a perfectly legitimate training exercise

Pyrrha Nikos: I suppose this means Yang is free to spar with me later still, then.

Ruby Rose: oh yeah yang got off easy all things considered, although her aura got pretty low near the end

Ruby Rose: i still need to work on Magnhild though, there were some flaws in the release mechanism and i think nora’s usual grenades dont have the impact we had in mind

Ruby Rose: id have to look up the schematics again so we can maybe switch to a different manufacturer or look into alternatives for nora’s proposed upgrade

Ruby Rose: plus nora pointed out that considering her semblance the current Magnhild model might accidentally suffer a few grenade discharges if nora absorbs lightning, so i gotta keep that in mind for future modifications

Ruby Rose: weiss’ magazine gave me loads of ideas on how to fix it though, maybe once the parts are on the market we can order em

Ruby Rose: man jaune is gonna be so mad at me when he fills out next month’s budget requests

Ruby Rose: um…

Ruby Rose: im not boring you with all the weapon talk, right, pyrrha?

Pyrrha Nikos: oh, no, no, I find it all fascinating. I’m mostly unresponsive because I’m preparing to spar with Yang in a half-hour or so. I’m looking over my gear right now and I’ll be doing some light stretching later.

Pyrrha Nikos: Back to what you were saying, however. Honestly, I find your passion for weapons design very inspiring, Ruby.

Ruby Rose: really?

Ruby Rose: most people just get bored when i ramble on n on about weapons. im glad nora gets all of my weapon nonsense, but other people?

Ruby Rose: i mean jaune’s always fine listening to me talk about it but i know most of it flies over his head even he tries so hard to pretend he gets it

Ruby Rose: not that i wanna say hes dumb or anything but weapon stuff isn’t his strong suit!

Ruby Rose: yang’s the same she does her best but shes more of a punch first, ask questions later person, ren chose a simple weapon to use so he doesn’t really look into the intricacies of weapon design, and weiss is more into dust and myrtenaster’s more of a dust dispenser than a weapon

Ruby Rose: blake’s actually pretty good with weapon stuff and i talk to her abt it every now and then, but, well, it’s blake… i still have a hard time reading her, honestly

Ruby Rose: and im rambling again, sorry

Pyrrha Nikos: Oh, don’t worry too much about it, Ruby.

Pyrrha Nikos: Also, I wouldn’t worry too much about Blake. She’s taking her time, but she’s becoming more and more comfortable with all of you.

Pyrrha Nikos: Don’t hesitate to be a little more forward with her now. She trusts all of you enough to talk, even if she’s very…Blake.

Ruby Rose: Yeah… yeah, you’re right. we’re a team! we can talk abt this stuff!

_Someone is typing…_

Ruby Rose: um also

Ruby Rose: i know i didn’t get to say it yesterday thanks to the party and all but uh

Ruby Rose: thanks for cheering me up when i was feeling down

Ruby Rose: you and nora being there for me the entire afternoon must have been boring since you prolly had other plans

Pyrrha Nikos: Oh, don’t worry about it too much, Ruby. Nora and I are just happy to spend time with our friends, you know?

Ruby Rose: well, thanks, anyway. you humored all my weapon stuff and didn’t even complain when nora and i spent a lot of time in the workshop to work on Magnhild

Ruby Rose: um

Ruby Rose: if you want, next time we hang out

Ruby Rose: i could maybe…

Ruby Rose: …work on Miló and Akoúo̱?

Pyrrha Nikos: Of course, Ruby. I’d love to.

\---0---

Pyrrha Nikos honestly had a hard time at first making sense of Ruby and Nora. Ruby was more of Jaune’s friend at the beginning, and Pyrrha was content to allow the younger girl to talk and ramble on because the weapons prodigy was a tiny ball of social anxiety, struggling to conduct normal conversations with people. Pyrrha at least had the advantage of age and experience, and she had dealt with many an awkward conversation with fans who were either too awestruck to see a celebrity or just ill-equipped with social etiquette. Her usual strategy was to just keep smiling and nodding, throwing out a few words every now and then to show that she was paying attention to the conversation, and allow the other person to get tired.

Nora was the same – her hyperactive, manic energy didn’t mesh well with Pyrrha’s reserved nature, and Pyrrha felt the best course of action was to keep her distance until either Ren arrived or Nora got bored and wandered off. A part of her felt bad about that – Nora was her _teammate_ , for gods’ sake – but Pyrrha didn’t know how _else_ to communicate with her.

So she told them little white lies to humor them. No harm, no foul. She liked them well enough, but she just didn’t feel equipped to deal with them and was content to just let the chips fall where they may when interacting with the two. Better to let Jaune deal with them, since Ruby and Jaune got along so well it was like they were childhood friends, and Nora looked up to Jaune like the big brother she never had.

Of course, Jaune always had a way of forcing her lies away and making her honest, because Jaune’s friendship with Ruby meant the two teams were always interacting on a regular basis, and Ruby and Nora found themselves fast friends thanks to their mutual hyperactive energy and love for weapon design. Ruby was the expert, clearly, but Nora could keep up with Ruby’s hyperfocus on weapons and could contribute her own (dangerous) ideas to the mix. Pyrrha, at first, found solace in the fact that she didn’t have to deal with the two and their hyperactive energy anymore, but at that point the two had gotten it in their head that Pyrrha was at least interested enough in their weapons insanity to include her in their conversations. Things spiraled from there.

Nowadays Pyrrha had picked up enough weapon information that she could follow (and sometimes contribute, of her own volition) a casual conversation between the two short stacks, mostly through osmosis. But Pyrrha didn’t _hate_ it, because that had allowed her to get Ruby and Nora better, and the talks _had_ been useful in letting her figure out how to modify her own weapons without relying on her personal blacksmith. Soon her conversations with the two expanded from just weapons to whatever else they felt like talking about. Ruby, once she got past her anxiety and became comfortable with you, was a surprisingly insightful and thoughtful person who was always optimistic but never outright _naïve_ , and Nora, underneath all the energy and insanity, was sensitive and empathetic to everyone else’s emotional states. She had never figured that she would be friends with them, choosing to initiate conversation with them, not with her destiny in mind, but she was glad she met them. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, meeting them, but life was better with a few distractions along the way.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW**!_

_Vomit Boy uploaded a video!_

SunnyLittleDragon: thanks for recording my spar with pyrrha, VB

SunnyLittleDragon: how are you doin

Vomit Boy: my body’s aching in places i didn’t know could ache

Vomit Boy: if its alright with everyone im gonna lie down and try not to think of the pain

Vomit Boy: somebody pls wake me up before dinner 

RedLikeStrawberries: good thing we woke up late and got brunch huh

SunnyLittleDragon: probably should have gone easy on you lmao

Big Kitty Goth GF: to be fair, he got sassy on you at the start

Big Kitty Goth GF: he probably forgot we werent chatting and let his ah

Big Kitty Goth GF: _true feelings_

Big Kitty Goth GF: slip

SunnyLittleDragon: yeah hes been giving me lip all week long over chat

SunnyLittleDragon: who knew all VB needed to be snarky was long-distance communication

Cereal Girl: Either way, it was very nice of you to offer to spar with Jaune as well.

SunnyLittleDragon: i mean we kind of had an agreement to do that already

RedLikeStrawberries: no, what you had was you deciding you wanted to beat up jaune and jaune refusing

SunnyLittleDragon: you mean we had a disagreement and settled it like adults

Big Kitty Goth GF: yeah, jaune’s face definitely disagreed with yang’s fist connecting

SunnyLittleDragon: he’ll be _fine_ , he has loads of aura anw. p sure i saw him healing already while i was whaling away on his shield

SunnyLittleDragon: what do you feed him to get his white stuff all thick and strong pyrrha?

Cereal Girl: _Yang!!!_

Snow Angel: For gods’ sake, Yang, that’s disgusting!

SunnyLittleDragon: i meant his aura you perverts!

Ren-sensei: Well, I watched your sparring video, you two.

Ren-sensei: I have to say, it’s hard to believe but your form and movements have gotten even better compared to the last spar. I’d say this is an even more dominant performance than with Weiss.

Ren-sensei: No offense, Weiss.

Snow Angel: None taken. Pyrrha _did_ give me a very severe beating. It was a very humbling experience.

Cereal Girl: It was a well-fought match, Weiss. Please don’t demean your own abilities.

Snow Angel: I’m merely stating objective fact.

Snow Angel: Still, watching the video now… Yang, aren’t you supposed to be second best in combat for our year?

Big Kitty Goth GF: ngl yang pyr kinda clowned on you

SunnyLittleDragon: it’s not fair! i wasted too much aura fighting jaune!

SunnyLittleDragon: you know how much of a cockroach he is in spars!

Big Kitty Goth GF: well yeah but at least your semblance should have been ready to go to fight pyr

Big Kitty Goth GF: did you even get a single hit in?

SunnyLittleDragon: no, but I got really close!

Cereal Girl: I was lucky, I feel. I barely dodged some of Yang’s blows. And if she got a solid hit on me, even once, the match would have been over.

Cereal Girl: I wouldn’t mind doing it again in a more equal environment.

SunnyLittleDragon: you hear that!!! i bet im p-money’s favorite sparring partner now!

Cereal Girl: You’re up there, certainly.

\---0---

Pyrra could never admit it out loud, but Yang, at the start of the school year, was her least favorite kind of opponent to spar with, mostly because Yang tended to be one-dimensional with her attacks. Out of Team RWBY, Yang was the easiest to deal with: Ruby had her speed and the unpredictability of Crescent Rose, Weiss (when she wasn’t being bullheaded with her semblance) had so much versatility and attack opportunities at her disposal, and Blake’s shadow clones, agility, and equipment let her incredible mobility and a variety of ways to break through her defenses.

Yang, though? She was _strong_ , sure, and skilled, and understood her body and its limitations well, but she was like a bull in a china shop in combat: all power, no refinement. It was a mental problem as well: she was perfectly capable of fighting smart, of being tactical with her semblance and not just relying on brute forcing everything, but Yang had a tendency to let her emotions run wild, causing her to leap into fights without considering the consequences. In terms of coming up with a strategy to fight Yang, Pyrrha didn’t really have to think _hard_ about it – most spars with Yang ended the same way, with Pyrrha executing the same basic strategy to take her down every single time. At least the others forced her to think fast on her feet!

If she was being honest, she’d much rather keep on sparring with Jaune, because at least Jaune was a puzzle – once Jaune found his stride, and began fighting more defensively, fighting with Jaune was a careful balancing act of managing her aura resources while breaking through Jaune’s shield and depleting his. In a tournament style setting, there was a legitimate argument to be made that Jaune could eke out a few wins through aura depletion, relying on his own massive aura pool and his defensiveness. Yang was a very high-risk, high reward opponent: if she got you into her range, she would most likely win, but if you fought smart, she had a lot of exploitable weaknesses. And Pyrrha was the kind of fighter who took advantage of such weaknesses.

So she _currently_ wasn’t Pyrrha’s favorite sparring partner. But Pyrrha felt that Yang was changing too, unconsciously proving her wrong, because while it wasn’t noticeable at first, she observed that Yang _was_ changing things up, little by little. It only became apparent to Pyrrha when Yang first sparred with Jaune and saw the way Yang changed up her approach when she realized Jaune wasn’t going to let her just punch her way through his shield. The changes were rudimentary, and Jaune simply wasn’t skilled enough to keep up with Yang’s new approach, but that had shown to Pyrrha that Yang _was_ capable of fighting smart.

She had never pegged Yang to be an analytical fighter, but Yang proved her wrong, figuring out a lot about Jaune’s fighting style and giving him good tips to improve his defense, as well as practical combat tips like adjusting his stance to lessen gaps in his defenses, taking advantage of his longer range and large shield to force enemies into more agreeable positions for him to try and land hits with. Pyrrha’s trainer would have approved of Yang, who clearly had the skill and talent for combat but had honed it through what was undoubtedly years of constant training and self-improvement. Now if only she could rein in those impulsive tendencies, she would be a much more dangerous fighter.

So Yang wasn’t Pyrrha’s favorite sparring partner _now_ , but she felt that would change in the future. It seemed like all the people in her life nowadays were intent on just proving her wrong, wasn’t she? Maybe, just maybe, in the future, if things continued like, Pyrrha wouldn’t have to be a liar anymore.

And to think, Pyrrha smiled, it all started when she met someone that had _nothing_ to do with her destiny.

\---0---

The rest of day felt like it passed by in an instant. After their spar, Pyrrha had retired to the dorms while Yang opted to relax for a bit elsewhere. On her way back to the dorms, Pyrrha found Weiss and Ren making their way to the common room, and she only picked up a few scraps of their conversation, something about trying out some new tea leaves. Ruby and Nora sent a message in their chat, reporting some new adjustments they planned on making to Magnhild, and Yang had replied with a gentle, if somewhat facetious, message about not repeating the mistakes of that morning.

When Pyrrha entered their dorm rooms, she found her partner snoring away on his bed. Scattered on the floor were parts of his armor, and Pyrrha sighed at the carelessness of her leader. Using her semblance, she lifted all the various protective parts her partner wore and rearranged them, depositing them at the right side of Jaune’s bed.

She gingerly sat at Jaune’s bed, watching over his sleeping face, and gently stroked his face. If Jaune was awake, he was doing a good job of hiding it, as he had no outward reaction to her caressing his face and gently running her fingers through his messy hair. Pyrrha gazed at his peaceful face, simply enjoying the peace and quiet, thanking the Brothers above for this unexpected boon she had received.

Jaune wasn’t there yet. He still wasn’t a _really_ good leader, not yet, but he was getting there, and he wasn’t the most competent fighter, and far away from achieving his goal, and he had a tendency to lie and cheat and bullshit his way through things at times instead of acting like the hero he wanted to be, but _he was getting there_. That was what Pyrrha had admired about him the most, that despite how terrible he was at the start of the year, both as a fighter and a person, he was determined to better himself. She didn’t prompt him to, not overtly, but Jaune quickly straightened himself out and stopped acting so _macho_ , and once he got out of his own head, he had shown how _driven_ he was to improve. In a way, he reminded Pyrrha of when she was young, when her trainer agreed to train her even if she wasn’t very good or skilled or talented, because she had the drive to achieve what she believed was her destiny.

Pyrrha wanted to do the same for Jaune.

She didn’t know what his fate was, or what destiny Jaune wanted to achieve, but all he needed was a little push, and Pyrrha was determined to be the one pushing him onward. It was her way of repaying him for everything he had done for her, after all.

Bit by bit, day by day, he was getting better. She was, too. The lies were slowly drifting away in the wind, like leaves in autumn.

Pyrrha was awoken from her reverie by a gentle knock. After making sure that Jaune wasn’t roused from his sleep by the knocking, Pyrrha left his side and made her way to the door. She opened the door, gingerly, peering out to check who was knocking, only to find Blake, looking at her sheepishly.

“Hey, Pyrrha,” Blake began, her face somewhat bashful, “we should probably finish our fanfic today. Especially since exams are coming up.”

Well, Pyrrha supposed, she had probably rambled long enough about serious topics. Time to have a little _fun_. She sighed a little, smiling at Blake, and replied:

“I’d love to.”

\---0---

_Welcome to **pussy magnet**!_

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: I’m still not sure the chat name is appropriate, Blake.

Tiger & Dragon: meh its funny at least

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: Well, I’m glad Yang’s sense of humor is rubbing off on you. _And_ that you’re talking with her again.

Tiger & Dragon: gonna be honest it felt like most of this week was just me having awkward personal talks with my team

Tiger & Dragon: kind of glad we’re done with it all honestly

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: That is true. At least all’s well that ends well, hm?

Tiger & Dragon: yeah. now im just looking forward to going to Tukson’s and just getting new books before exam panic hits.

Tiger & Dragon: anw with this last chapter we should be done w the first volume of the story

Tiger & Dragon: gotta say, didn’t think we’d get this far when we started this dumb project

Tiger & Dragon: it was just something to pass the time, and now we’ve got eight main characters to juggle, a large supporting cast, a world map inspired by stains on a napkin, a _lot_ of background lore and worldbuilding…

Tiger & Dragon: not sure how we can introduce all of that in the later volumes when this all started out with us just wanting to write some fight scenes and have some light shipping elements honestly

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: I’m sure it’ll be fine. Admittedly, the first volume can be a bit rough, but I believe we’ll improve over time.

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: I’ll confess it was hard to write the background characters and set dressing at times, and looking back, I fear some of the background characters feel more like… faceless shadow people.

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: Still, I’m happy with what we’ve produced.

Tiger & Dragon: you sure you wanna upload this now? i bet we’d get lots of criticism from people. personally, im worried people might think the bullying arc went too long

Tiger & Dragon: even if i think it had some of our best character writing

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: it’s either that or they complain about how we didn’t write much of a story for the sister character since we’re saving her backstory for later.

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: or how the climax of the volume involves two new characters we just recently introduced, instead of our main cast.

Tiger & Dragon: oh man now im getting cold feet i don’t want to upload this its gonna suck so bad and people are gonna flame us so _hard_ why did we think _we were good enough to do this_

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: It’ll be _fine_ Blake. We’ll grow into it.

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: We have the time to improve things. _Together_. We’re writing partners, after all.

Tiger & Dragon: Yeah… yeah, you’re right.

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: And as partners, I’d like to suggest we add a mascot character. A dog, for example.

Tiger & Dragon: no. no dogs.

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: Spoilsport.

Tiger & Dragon: well… are you ready?

Achilles ♥ Jeanne: Ready when you are.

Tiger & Dragon: let’s go

\---0---

_Legends. Stories scattered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, byproducts, of a forgotten past…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so this is the end of the first arc. I’ll start the second arc after maybe an Interlude chapter or two, and the second arc will be set immediately post-Breach. The third arc will be set probably around the times Grimm Eclipse happens, and is mostly just me dragging out events before, well, Volume 3 happens. As for the rest, well…
> 
> For those who stuck around even after this story turned out to not just be pure crack shitposting, thanks for giving this fic a shot. I’m glad some people took the time out of their schedule to read my story even if, admittedly, I’m not writing anything the fandom seems to be clamoring for. (No outright romantic shipping? Just friendship and expanding on character development? Exploring rare character interactions? Adhering to canon?)
> 
> Finally, I hope that reading this fic helps remind you, the readers, what makes RWBY fun for us all. As an extremely new fan to this franchise, I came into the show just about loving everything, even as a jaded literature major trained to nitpick everything, and it’s disheartening looking into the fandom and seeing just how much fandom divide exists, overshadowing the fun we’ve hopefully had with the show. It’s like we didn’t listen to Salem’s big plan to ensure she wins!


	8. Interlude 1: back in my day we used to call these talks filler episodes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so the FGO summer event just started, so… see you in three weeks?
> 
> Just kidding. Have an interlude chapter. None of those boring prose sections about, ugh, character development and plot, just crack and chatting! (also setting up some events that will happen in canon and in this fic)

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW**!_

Cereal Girl: You know,

Cereal Girl: I never got around to asking this.

Cereal Girl: But how exactly are we supposed to read this group chat name you fashioned for us, Nora?

RedLikeStrawberries: what do you mean, pyrrha? its all our names put together

RedLikeStrawberries: like rwby or jnpr

Cereal Girl: Yes, but the acronym is supposed to correspond to a specific word, correct?

SunnyLittleDragon: true but sometimes they feel like a stretch

SunnyLittleDragon: like, how are you supposed to read rwby as ruby???

Big Kitty Goth GF: actually, in the old atlesian tongue, the letter w corresponded to u, and was pronounced the same way

SunnyLittleDragon: wait so weiss is actually supposed to be uiess?

SunnyLittleDragon: …how does that work? how do you read that?

Snow Angel: No, Yang, my name is not read that way.

Snow Angel: Nobody speaks in the old Atlesian tongue anymore, and as a result is a dead language. Professor Ozpin must be a fan of very old languages to recall this quirk of the Atlesian alphabet. Only _really_ old people know how the language is spoken.

SunnyLittleDragon: that or hes just making up names as he goes along

SunnyLittleDragon: you think he spent all initiation just rearranging the order of our names until he could form a word?

Snow Angel: I _highly_ doubt Professor Ozpin is that irresponsible. I’m sure he placed utmost care in naming our teams and selecting the team leader.

Big Kitty Goth GF: You were mad when you were passed over for team leader the first time.

Snow Angel: A decision that in retrospect was the right one! Truly, Professor Ozpin is a _genius_.

Queen of the Castle: I don’t know, Weiss.

Queen of the Castle: Never trust a man who pretends to drink coffee when his mug is full of hot chocolate!

Queen of the Castle: Oh, also, Pyrrha, it’s read as _rainbow_. There’s a good reason behind it too!

RedLikeStrawberries: wait, really??? i just thought you mashed our names together

RedLikeStrawberries: Ruby, Ren, Arc, Yang, Nora, Nikos, Blake, Weiss?

Big Kitty Goth GF: its kind of weird that we have use last names for other people and first names for others just to make the team name work

Queen of the Castle: it’s hard to fit Lie into the naming scheme, you know!

Snow Angel: Speaking of, why _do_ we call you by your last name, Ren?

Ren-sensei: Force of habit? That’s what Nora has always called me.

Queen of the Castle: Why not? It sounds better than his first name. Who names their kid Lie, honestly?

Snow Angel: Are you going to take that, Ren?

Ren-sensei: She’s not wrong.

Cereal Girl: Based on this naming scheme, are we to assume that Ruby is the overall leader of our little group?

SunnyLittleDragon: maybe? all the team names we’ve seen so far suggest that

Big Kitty Goth GF: what, like you get to be leader if you’re used as the first letter of the team name?

SunnyLittleDragon: it would be _really_ funny if ozpin picked out team leaders just on that alone

Snow Angel: I’m sure that’s… a coincidence… I don’t think Professor Ozpin would be so flippant with such an important decision…

Queen of the Castle: Wait a second, you guys!

Queen of the Castle: I can’t accept this!

Queen of the Castle: Ruby, I love you, and I think you’re a great person and a terrific leader.

RedLikeStrawberries: thank you!

Queen of the Castle: But there’s only _one_ leader for me, and that’s our Fearless Leader!

Queen of the Castle: He’s our dependable, stubborn, clumsy, bad at combat, airheaded, easily distracted dork leader! We’d follow him through whatever dumb plan he comes up with!

Vomit Boy: uhhhh thanks?

Queen of the Castle: I’m kidding! You know I’m kidding, FL!

Ren-sensei: I’m sure in her head they were all meant as compliments, Jaune.

SunnyLittleDragon: now hang on a minute

SunnyLittleDragon: im sure jnpr’s tight and all but theres no way im letting VB be my leader

SunnyLittleDragon: idk how to feel about someone who still wears bunny rabbit onesies to bed

Vomit Boy: hey! they were a gift from my sisters! plus theyre very comfy

Big Kitty Goth GF: too bad they couldnt gift you any fashion sense

Vomit Boy: not you too blake!

Vomit Boy: guys back me up here

Ren-sensei: I do not see any problem with your choice of sleeping attire, Jaune.

Ren-sensei: …even if it is very silly-looking.

Vomit Boy: _ren!!!_

Queen of the Castle: Don’t listen to them, FL! I think they’re neat!

Vomit Boy: thank you, nora

Queen of the Castle: I mean, you look like a giant baby! I just want to sweep you off your feet and give you a big ol’ hug even if you’re like a foot taller than me!

Snow Angel: You probably could as well.

Vomit Boy: ☹

Cereal Girl: That’s not very nice, everyone!

SunnyLittleDragon: oh yeah, p-money? would you rather he ditch the onesie and go _au naturel_ to bed?

Cereal Girl: **_Yang!!!_**

RedLikeStrawberries: im sorry jaune it looks like everyone agrees they cant see you leading this team

Vomit Boy: why is our leadership skill being judged by our sleepwear??? why cant we compare our leadership class grades instead?

RedLikeStrawberries: that’s unfair! i don’t get extra points for all the cool team attack names i come up with but all your boring retreat ideas are accepted

Vomit Boy: ok thats fair your attack names are _really_ cool

Vomit Boy: but cmon just bc i wear a onesie with bunnies on it doesn’t make me any less of a leader

Vomit Boy: besides you’re one to talk considering you wear [edited]

SunnyLittleDragon: **_what the hell_** _**VB**_

Snow Angel: How do you even know that Jaune???

Vomit Boy: i swear there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this, right, ruby?

RedLikeStrawberries: you’re on your own here buddy

Vomit Boy: traitor!!!

\---0---

_Welcome to **Lancaster**!_

Vomit Boy: you know this means war, c-face

Craterface: bring it, vomit boy

Vomit Boy: as soon as yang calms down and stop banging on the door

Craterface: and that’s why im always going to be the better leader! glynda was right!

Vomit Boy: i resent that implication!

Craterface: the sooner you accept it the sooner we can end this, jaune

Vomit Boy: _never_

_Someone is typing…_

Vomit Boy: good looks like she got bored. remind me to thank pyr later

Vomit Boy: anyway, i have a way for us to settle this, c-face

Craterface: fine, but pranking is off the table. yang’s still sore at the stuff ren and nora pulled the other week

Vomit Boy: her eyebrows were safe!

Craterface: tell that to a rampaging yang

Vomit Boy: anyway, heres what i propose…

\---0---

_Welcome to **Lotus Petals**!_

Tag Master: REN

Tag Master: ren ren ren ren ren ren

Tag Master: my buddy, my pal, my sworn brother, my twin, my greatest friend

Tag Master: i need a big favor from you

Tag Apprentice: …Jaune and Weiss will be jealous if they see this, Ruby.

Tag Master: whaaat no they wont

Tag Apprentice: But Jaune is your, ahem, BF.

Tag Master: best friend, yes.

Tag Apprentice: And Weiss is your BFF.

Tag Master: it’s a work in progress. i can tell she’s warming up to me!

Tag Apprentice: What I’m saying is you cannot just throw around these labels casually.

Tag Master: its fine, ren! Jaune’s my BF, Weiss is my BFF, and you’re my GF!

Tag Apprentice: …never mind. What do you need?

Tag Master: thank you my apprentice. rest assured, the next game jnpr ~~plays tag~~ has a practice session, i will teach you all i know

Tag Apprentice: The last time you taught me anything, I failed to catch up to Nora the whole day.

Tag Apprentice: It was very… disappointing. I always knew Nora outpaced me in most aspects, but it’s still disheartening to know it as a fact. I suppose I still cannot keep up with her.

Tag Master: sorry ren

Tag Master: we’ll get her next time

Tag Apprentice: It’s fine. I’m more frustrated that I was on laundry duty for an _entire week_ , Ruby. You don’t lose Team JNPR training sessions without serious consequences.

Tag Master: yang says you should be happy you get to wash nora’s laundry.

Tag Master: or jaune’s. she doesn’t judge. what does she mean?

Tag Apprentice: Please tell Yang that not everyone possesses the mind of a dirty old man, and that Nora and I have washed each other’s laundry plenty of times.

Tag Master: i dont get it i handled all the laundry back at patch but yang never laughs at me for that like she is now

Tag Apprentice: I refuse to dignify this with a response. Why not ask Jaune?

Tag Master: okie doke!

_Someone is typing…_

Tag Master: oh

Tag Master: ohhhhhhh

Tag Master: **YANG**

Tag Master: this is filth!!!

\---0---

_Welcome to **Nordic Winter**!_

Ice Queen: Nora, _please_.

Ice Queen: I need your help!

Thunder Thighs: Okay, but give me a minute, Jaune’s lecturing us on something he wants to do. I think I heard him say “flour power” at some point…

_Someone is typing…_

Thunder Thighs: Coast is clear! Fearless Leader, Ren, and Pyrrha have left the room!

Ice Queen: Thank you, Nora. I need you to…

Thunder Thighs: Got it, Weissy! Door’s unlocked!

Ice Queen: How did you…

Ice Queen: Never mind.

Ice Queen: Nora, _please hide me from Ruby_.

Thunder Thighs: Sure thing! Come on in!

_Someone is typing…_

Ice Queen: I will communicate with you via scroll because Ruby might overhear me if we talk.

Thunder Thighs: Sure, but you don’t mind if I change into my workout clothes, right? I gotta get in some exercise!

Ice Queen: You change clothes in this room??? You share a room with two men! And Pyrrha!

Thunder Thighs: Fearless Leader grew up with seven sisters, Ren and I know each other from childhood, and Pyrrha knows to respect boundaries! They know not to make it weird.

Thunder Thighs: Besides, I walk in on Ren giving Jaune massages after training with Pyrrha all the time and they aren’t weirded out by it! Sometimes Pyrrha helps!

Ice Queen: …never mind.

Ice Queen: _Anyway_

Ice Queen: What was Jaune talking about with your team before I got here? He seemed serious. [edited]

Thunder Thighs: No clue! I zoned out in the middle of it. I’m sure Jaune will fill me in later if I ask!

Ice Queen: …right. Can I stay in the corner next to Ren’s bed? So I’m not spotted from the door if anyone walks in.

Thunder Thighs: Okie doke!

_Someone is typing…_

Ice Queen: You’re not going to ask why I’m hiding here?

Thunder Thighs: Eh if you don’t wanna talk about it’s fine. We’re big into our privacy here, you know!

Ice Queen: You’re changing your underwear right now while anyone from your team could enter at any moment.

Thunder Thighs: Yes, and?

Ice Queen: …never mind.

Ice Queen: So is it alright if I just sit here listening to Arc-en-Ciel videos and not talk to you for a bit while I’m hiding?

Thunder Thighs: I’m used to it, don’t worry.

Ice Queen: Still, it is very rude of me. I’m your guest and I should reciprocate your courtesy.

Thunder Thighs: You don’t gotta be mindful around me, Weiss! We’re friends! Besides, I’m a big girl and I’m strong as heck. I can bench ten of you!

Thunder Thighs: Not that I don’t appreciate the gesture of course.

_Someone is typing…_

Ice Queen: …does it bother you, sometimes, that he’s so closed off?

Thunder Thighs: Well, yeah.

Thunder Thighs: Like I said, I’m used to it.

Thunder Thighs: Plus I can tell he’s getting better at it. I just have to be patient and not push his boundaries.

Ice Queen: I’m sure he means well. He’s just… so bad at expressing himself properly.

Ice Queen: At least he still follows along with your antics.

Ice Queen: Some people have a hard time just _doing_ that.

Thunder Thighs: Don’t be too hard on yourself, Weiss.

Thunder Thighs: I for one think you’re nice and helpful! Once you get past all the Ice Queen-ness of course.

Ice Queen: Hey!

Thunder Thighs: It’s true, though! You and Ren are so alike it many ways.

_Someone is typing…_

Thunder Thighs: I’m sure Ruby won’t hold it against you if you don’t want to be involved in her little contest with Jaune.

Ice Queen: How do you…

Ice Queen: Never mind.

Thunder Thighs: Still, I’m sure Ruby would appreciate it if you opened up _just_ a little bit, you know? We can’t be patient and understanding forever.

Ice Queen: Ha. Are you telling me, or him?

Thunder Thighs: Who knows~

Thunder Thighs: I just think life would be easier if we didn’t keep any secrets. Unfortunately, me and my teammates like keeping ‘em. So here we are.

Thunder Thighs: But enough about us. I’m about to hit the gym. Wanna come with, Weiss?

Ice Queen: I’m not much of a gym person, but I wouldn’t mind as long as Ruby doesn’t catch us.

Ice Queen: I’m not sure I’m ready to talk to her just yet.

Thunder Thighs: A good workout will fix that! Get your blood pumping, get your sweat flowing, and aaall the bad thoughts get washed away in the shower!

Ice Queen: …I will never understand your way of thinking, Nora.

Thunder Thighs: Oh, I’m sure you do, Weissy! You just need to lighten up a little, stop overthinking things, and…

\---0---

Weiss braced herself as Nora leaned in to whisper in her ear.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Nordic Winter**!_

Ice Queen: **_I DON’T NEED ANY STICKS REMOVED FROM MY POSTERIOR NORA_**

\---0---

_Welcome to **Greek Fire**!_

Cat Simp: pyrrha

Cat Simp: p-money

Cat Simp: my comrade, my soulmate

Cat Simp: my twin sister from another mister

Cat Simp: i need your help

Noodle Simp: Yang, you were about to beat up my partner over a misunderstanding.

Cat Simp: aww, i actually wasn’t gonna that’s just how me and jaune bond

Noodle Simp: By trying to punch him into next week?

Cat Simp: jaunes used to it, he says it reminds him of his sisters

Noodle Simp: … I see. What do you need, Yang?

Cat Simp: ok so

Cat Simp: ruby got it in her head to do this really _, really_ dumb thing and I want no part of it.

Noodle Simp: …I’m sorry?

Cat Simp: ruby’s asking ren for help _right now_ and nothing im saying can stop her

Cat Simp: im not sure how you do it every week but i am _not_ going to be coached through another dust-damned routine by ren again!

Noodle Simp: It’s not _that_ bad, Yang.

Cat Simp: id much rather work out with nora

Noodle Simp: Let’s not say things we can’t take back.

Cat Simp: well anyway i need your help

Noodle Simp: I’m not quite sure what I can contribute to your… sibling dispute.

Cat Simp: you could convince jaune to call it off!

Noodle Simp: Yang, you know as well as I do that what you ask is impossible.

Cat Simp: also, its not a dispute! we just… disagree on this one thing, yeah.

Noodle Simp: If you say so, Yang.

_Someone is typing…_

Noodle Simp: If you want to talk about it, I’m always here to listen.

Cat Simp: oh geez p-money you don’t have to

Noodle Simp: Unfortunately, I tend to meddle in other people’s business.

Noodle Simp: Our partners are fond of pointing that out to me.

Noodle Simp: Unfortunately, our partners are also fond of… not talking about what’s bothering them.

Noodle Simp: I’ve learned to interpret their gestures and expressions instead. And no offense, Yang, but you’re much easier to read.

Noodle Simp: We can talk about Ruby if you wish.

Cat Simp: …she’s just growing up so fast, yknow?

Cat Simp: not looking forward to the day she’s gonna stop listening to me

Noodle Simp: Well, I think I can relate to that.

Noodle Simp: In the first place, Jaune barely listens to me as well.

Noodle Simp: A few days ago, Ren wasn’t feeling well and Jaune slept in so he couldn’t prepare breakfast, so instead he chose to eat that terrible cereal of his even when I was throwing him a lot of judgmental glares

Cat Simp: lmao meanwhile he literally folds under pressure the moment anyone from my team looks at him funny

Cat Simp: no offense but maybe your approach needs work

Cat Simp: you don’t look scary even you try to intimidate him, you always look like you’re just about to drag him off and tuck him to bed like he was your child

Noodle Simp: I do _not_ , Yang! Stop insinuating things! And you’re one to talk!

Cat Simp: Hey!

Noodle Simp: Besides, there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation why Jaune is, ah, deferential to all of you.

Cat Simp: he’s really into being stepped on?

Noodle Simp: _No_ , Yang! You’re incorrigible!

Noodle Simp: You _do_ remind him of his sisters, you know?

Cat Simp: what, you saying we’re all sister-zoned now?

Noodle Simp: _No!_

_Someone is typing…_

Cat Simp: where are you anyway?

Noodle Simp: I’m about to head to Vale to replenish our pantry.

Cat Simp: oh neat. your turn this week?

Noodle Simp: Yes. Plus, I’m feeling rather cooped up in our dorm.

Noodle Simp: Ruby’s also given me your shopping list, so I can make a whole day out of it.

Cat Simp: is it a good idea for you to go on your own, considering your fans?

Noodle Simp: I’m going out with a disguise. Ruby recommended a hood of some kind.

Cat Simp: …wait, are you borrowing one of VB’s hoodies?!

Noodle Simp: …yes?

Cat Simp: oh ho. oh ho ho ho

Cat Simp: im tagging along p-money i have got to see this

Cat Simp: you should be honored i don’t just let anyone ride bumblebee

Noodle Simp: …sure? Thank you?

\---0---

_Welcome to **Knightshade**!_

dog: uhhh blake

dog: why are you making us talk through chat

dog: also why are we hiding in corner of the library that im pretty sure is off-limits to students

dog: i think i see some of professor ozpin’s books gathering dust in a corner

Blake Belladonna: back in my day we used to call these talks filler episodes

dog: what

Blake Belladonna: uhhh nothing

Blake Belladonna: we’re uh

Blake Belladonna: hiding from ruby

Blake Belladonna: i do _not_ want to be dragged into your dumb competition

dog: hey! its not dumb!

dog: my honor is at stake here!

Blake Belladonna: right. this is all your fault you know

dog: to be fair, me and ruby negotiated the terms of the contest fair and square so the fault is between the two of us.

Blake Belladonna: you _know_ she’s gonna try and rope us in

dog: i don’t think she’ll have energy considering shes w ren to practice

dog: besides, you werent complaining the other week when you joined me and pyr in practicing stuff

Blake Belladonna: i hated every single minute of it and only did it bc pyr begged me

dog: ren has a video that proves otherwise

Blake Belladonna: _i told him to delete that_

_Someone is typing…_

dog: so uh do you have a plan because ruby _will_ find you

Blake Belladonna: you’re the tactician here

dog: honestly my only plan is to make sure she doesn’t get enough time to practice with you guys

dog: im winging the rest

 _Someone is typing_ …

dog: so uh

dog: hows…life?

Blake Belladonna: jaune im trying to read here

Blake Belladonna: could you be quieter and just… not make noise?

dog: i mean i can try but its creepy here in the dark plus i _think_ you’re glaring at me and its really unsettling

dog: i can see your eyes glowing in the dark… its kind of weird

dog: oh gods is that racist i didn’t mean to imply anything about your uh whole _thing_

dog: oh geez now im sounding even more racist im _so sorry_ blake i know you don’t want this to be a big deal but when i get nervous i just blurt out what I have on mind and i _know_ we’re chatting but your eyes look at me like im a dumbass and i mean i know I am but i swear i don’t mean it my fingers are typing on their own I promise

_Someone is typing…_

Blake Belladonna: are you calm now

dog: didn’t have to throw a book at me

Blake Belladonna: you were so nervous you were about to cry and give away our location

dog: i wasnt about to cry!

Blake Belladonna: i can see you wiping your tears from here

Blake Belladonna: night vision, remember?

dog: um

dog: oh

dog: sorry i honestly don’t know much about faunus stuff

Blake Belladonna: what are you, a country bumpkin?

dog: …kind of?

dog: all i knew was there were faunus living around our town and mom said to treat em nicely because they live harder than lives than me

dog: sorry if that sounded really offensive i genuinely don’t know proper faunus etiquette

Blake Belladonna: …

dog: ummm blake

dog: you’re doing the staring thing again

_Someone is typing…_

Blake Belladonna: i generally don’t care as long as you’re not being outright malicious or blurt out that im one in public. so you’re fine with me. i’ll tell you if you go too far.

dog: yeah but i want to avoid offending you in the first place. you’re a friend yknow?

Blake Belladonna: we’re friends now? i thought i was the weirdo who hung around every now and then on the rooftop when you’re training

dog: oh god did i say that???

dog: oh geez blake im so _sorry_ if i ever made you feel that way i promise its ok even if its scary how you look at us sometimes when you think we don’t notice you glancing up from your book pyr just says your awkward abt all this oh man oh geez

Blake Belladonna: calm down jaune

Blake Belladonna: i was kidding

Blake Belladonna: look, most Humans don’t _know_ much about us. i cant hold it against them if they don’t understand how Faunus work. you’re fine as long as you’re willing to learn when you do something wrong.

dog: oh… ok. pyr makes this stuff look easy

Blake Belladonna: honestly im surprised pyr knows so much about Faunus culture, considering she’s from mistral and attitudes there arent always the nicest

dog: i mean shes a celeb and kind of a role model to people, im sure she got educated abt this stuff so she doesnt look ignorant or accidentally offend someone

dog: meanwhile im…yeah…

Blake Belladonna: get pyr to teach you then

dog: i cant do that to pyr, she wastes so much time trying to get me up to speed to all of you already

dog: she could be doing better things, like getting stronger, or meeting new people, or watching your cartoons with you or working on your fanfic…

dog: instead shes training me almost every night and helping me study

dog: i cant waste her time on more stuff i prolly should know by now

Blake Belladonna: your not gonna get better unless you ask for help you know

dog: _i know_

_Someone is typing…_

dog: hey, blake?

dog: you ever get that feeling where you want to do something because you know it’s the right thing to do, but you get cold feet and run away instead because you’re too weak

dog: that’s me. im too weak to not rely on pyrrha even when all i want is to be helpful to her and the rest of you guys. i tried running away from my team once and pyrrha had to knock some sense to me and here i am still feeling sorry for myself and _gods_

 _Someone is typing_ …

dog: uh sorry if things got heavy there

dog: i can delete it if you want i know you dont like all this emotional stuff

dog: man i sound like such a whiny prick huh

Blake Belladonna: you’re unusually somber today

dog: yeah i guess

Blake Belladonna: wanna talk about it

dog: um

Blake Belladonna: …you know, i don’t like talking about myself much but i pay attention to everyone

Blake Belladonna: at the very least you can tell me stuff you cant tell pyrrha, im good at keeping secrets

Blake Belladonna: and yknow

Blake Belladonna: teach you stuff

dog: yeah… thanks, blake

dog: guess im just down when even ruby thinks im a bad leader

dog: i thought i was doing ok, you know?

Blake Belladonna: you know shes just teasing.

Blake Belladonna: _we’re_ just teasing.

dog: i know that in my head, but remember that feeling i mentioned?

dog: i keep thinking _what if pyrrha is just being nice to me_ and im actually not useful to my team and ren and nora are just humoring me

dog: like they don’t even pay attention to the team meetings or read the team documents i make for them. are they that bad? am i not good enough for them to listen to?

dog: i cant bother pyr with all these dumb insecurities. she already carries me so much as it is.

dog: sometimes i feel like i should just pack it up and head back home. stupid, right? i p much ran away from home and now im running away again

_Someone is typing…_

dog: being whiny again. got it. shutting up.

_Someone is typing…_

dog: uhhh

dog: blake?

Blake Belladonna: shush this is just so you don’t feel the need to shout while you’re busy angsting

Blake Belladonna: i don’t want ruby to overhear you

Blake Belladonna: …for the record the fact that you don’t want to run away is good

Blake Belladonna: so… yeah

dog: umm

Blake Belladonna: also don’t read into this

Blake Belladonna: pyr says she finds it easier to study like this

dog: ok?

Blake Belladonna: good because im gonna punch you if you start treating me like im weiss

dog: what

Blake Belladonna: you’d have to blinder than a human at night to not see it, jaune

Blake Belladonna: for the record, i think you should give up. weiss isn’t interested in you that way

dog: yang thinks I have a chance!

Blake Belladonna: yes, well, yang’s romantic history is just as bad as yours

dog: you say that but you and yang are the best partners ever and im not implying anything about you two [edited]

Blake Belladonna: you wanna say that again before i do more than glare at you

dog: i changed it!!!

_Someone is typing…_

dog: so, uh, blake?

Blake Belladonna: _what_

dog: so we’re friends, right

_Someone is typing…_

Blake Belladonna: yes, jaune. we’re friends.

dog: whats with the pause???

dog: anyway

dog: can i maybe have a different nickname in this chat now?

\---0---

_Welcome to **Lotus Petals**!_

Tag Apprentice: How are you feeling, Ruby?

Tag Master: tired. beaten. humiliated.

Tag Master: a little hungry

Tag Master: just got out of the shower. i need food. wanna grab a late lunch?

Tag Apprentice: Why not? I’ll meet you there.

_Tag Master changed her name to **Dance Apprentice**!_

_Dance Apprentice changed Tag Apprentice’s name to **Dance Master**!_

Dance Apprentice: im not sure how jnpr does this every week

Dance Master: You could always call off your competition with Jaune if this proves difficult.

Dance Master: Besides, with the way your teammates all bolted off, I don’t think they’re willing to join you and undergo my training regimen.

Dance Master: …bolted off. What a weird turn of phrase.

Dance Apprentice: focus, ren!

Dance Master: Right, right.

Dance Master: Ruby, I understand that I can be very… difficult, at times.

Dance Apprentice: aww weiss likes spending time with you so you cant be that bad! you know how demanding she can be

Dance Apprentice: plus you and your team are like, super-besties-better-than-the-resties

Dance Master: That’s mostly their work. I’m content to sit in the sidelines and observe.

Dance Apprentice: now you’re sounding more like blake

Dance Master: I suppose.

Dance Apprentice: look i appreciate the mercy but i refuse to lose to jaune, ok???

Dance Master: Why not? Let our leader have this win. Does it really matter who the “best” leader is? I’d like to think we’d follow the two of you in a heartbeat, jokes from Weiss and the rest aside.

Dance Apprentice: look its not about that, im doing this for me

Dance Apprentice: if i go back on my word now i look flaky in front of my team

Dance Apprentice: gotta keep looking strong for them you know?

Dance Apprentice: plus, jaune works so hard to get better, i cant let him leave me in the dust

Dance Apprentice: i just know he’s gonna be great one day, and i have to make sure im always in top shape for when he does. for both our teams as well!

Dance Apprentice: i cant just coast on what i already know and learned. i still remember when i was garbage in combat. I have to be better today than i was yesterday! maybe i suck now but i just gotta keep at it!

Dance Apprentice: i know this is prolly just a silly thing but jaune puts so much effort in it so surely i can. its the least i can for my BF

Dance Master: …you have a point, I suppose.

Dance Master: What do you intend to do with your teammates, then?

Dance Apprentice: i’ll figure out a way to convince them! it’ll work out! Probably!

Dance Master: Well, good luck with that, because Pyrrha is currently with Yang in Vale, Nora and Weiss are busy working out in the gym, and Blake has sequestered Jaune away to who knows where.

Dance Apprentice: wait

Dance Apprentice: wait wait wait wait wait

Dance Apprentice: did you guys plan all this???

Dance Master: Maybe.

Dance Master: Jaune just said we should spend more time with other members of our sister team.

_Someone is typing…_

Dance Master: I take it we’re not having lunch, then?

\---0---

_Welcome to **Greek Fire**!_

Noodle Simp: Yang?

Cat Simp: yes, p-money?

Noodle Simp: Let’s never do that again.

Cat Simp: we got away ok! bumblebee’s fine, we’re not injured, and those people learned their lesson!

Noodle Simp: I’m not exactly a fan of highspeed motorcycle getaways myself, you know.

Cat Simp: we’re alive, right? that’s what matters!

Cat Simp: sheesh p-money live a little

Noodle Simp: _we are hiding in a park and chatting on our scrolls so that my fans won’t overhear us_

Cat Simp: look at you picking up chat habits from VB

Noodle Simp: Spend a long enough time with someone and you tend to pick up their habits.

Noodle Simp: Perhaps that is why Ruby is so…headstrong nowadays.

Cat Simp: …oof, low blow

Cat Simp: what is it with you and your partner finding ways to hit where it hurts? thats the last time i open up to you two if you’re just gonna make fun of my insecurities

Noodle Simp: Perhaps you shouldn’t take us along on joyrides across Vale then. We haven’t even gone through half the shopping list!

_Someone is typing…_

Noodle Simp: Yang?

Cat Simp: yes, p-money?

Noodle Simp: For what it’s worth… today _was_ fun.

Noodle Simp: It was a very liberating feeling, riding behind you.

Cat Simp: it is, isn’t it?

Noodle Simp: I wouldn’t be averse to doing this again… as long as we avoid antagonizing fans next time.

Cat Simp: aw don’t deny it, you had fun

Noodle Simp: …perhaps

Noodle Simp: Also… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make fun of your… concerns.

Cat Simp: its ok, i don’t mind

Cat Simp: you and VB are good listeners, you know

Cat Simp: we should all hang out sometimes. i’ll drag blake along and lets make a double date out of it

Noodle Simp: A… double date? I’m afraid I’ve never even experienced a single date before.

Cat Simp: pssh, they’re overrated, trust me

Noodle Simp: Also, um, not to presume anything, but who would be dating in this… hypothetical scenario?

Cat Simp: Well, that’s the question, isn’t it? 😉

\---0---

_Welcome to **Nordic Winter**!_

Ice Queen: …why did I agree to work out with you…

Thunder Thighs: I _told_ you not to worry about to me.

Thunder Thighs: I can take care of yourself!

Thunder Thighs: Anyway I’m done changing. You need help!

Ice Queen: I’m dressed… I just don’t want to move…

Thunder Thighs: Oh fine, you big baby, I’ll carry you back to the dorms.

Ice Queen: Wait, what?

Ice Queen: Nora, you don’t have to do that.

Thunder Thighs: Yes, I do!

_Someone is typing…_

Ice Queen: …this is embarrassing, Nora…

\---0---

_Welcome to **Knightshade**!_

dog: hey blake?

Blake Belladonna: what

dog: think you can humor ruby next time? today was fun but yknow

Blake Belladonna: …yeah, sure.

Blake Belladonna: im still getting used to this whole… thing. being in a team.

dog: you can take your time.

dog: its just that ruby wants all of you to get along so bad

Blake Belladonna: …you’re a good friend to her, Jaune.

dog: thanks? anyway

dog: blake can I get up already? my legs are going numb

Blake Belladonna: don’t be so dramatic

dog: you wouldn’t be this difficult if Yang was asking you to do this

Blake Belladonna: you got something to say vomit boy

dog: see you’re even talking like her miss tsundere

dog: that’s right i know all your meeb terms

Blake Belladonna: i listen to yang more bc shes my partner, not bc of whatever you wanna insinuate

dog: look i just want to get up and stretch my legs

Blake Belladonna: im almost done with the chapter ok

Blake Belladonna: you owe me that much after i listened to you angst for a few hours

dog: that’s not true! you were angsting too!

dog: the novel’s great though, thanks for the recommendation

Blake Belladonna: the plot was great, wasn’t it? so intricately crafted!

dog: yeah, and the characters and fight scenes were _awesome_

dog: although i, uh, skipped all the uhhhhh

dog: “good stuff”

dog: didn’t wanna make things awkward and explain stuff to yang

Blake Belladonna: …

_Someone is typing…_

dog: **_you didn’t have to hit me!!!_**

\---0---

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW**!_

RedLikeStrawberries: Sisters,

RedLikeStrawberries: Friends,

RedLikeStrawberries: Jaune.

Vomit Boy: hey!

RedLikeStrawberries: i present to you, the fruits of my entire day of training:

_RedLikeStrawberries uploaded a video!_

_RedLikeStrawberries played a video over the chat!_

Vomit Boy: ok yeah good job

Vomit Boy: i admit defeat for the first round of our contest

Vomit Boy: cant believe you actually wore the onesie to do the dance with

RedLikeStrawberries: toldja i could do it. btw thanks for sticking w me the entire day ren!

Ren-sensei: It was my pleasure. You are a very good student. Unlike some people I know.

Ren-sensei: _yang_

SunnyLittleDragon: bite me ren

SunnyLittleDragon: ill get back at you for this somehow

Vomit Boy: hm, dance could use some work tho, your movements are janky

Ren-sensei: Jaune, I am a choreographer, not a miracle worker.

RedLikeStrawberries: ill do better next time!

Vomit Boy: the challenge is still on, by the way. i’m willing to give you guys time to prepare for the real thing

RedLikeStrawberries: yeah, but we may have to postpone this until the end of exams bc they’re coming up soon

Vomit Boy: …fine. But you know the deal.

RedLikeStrawberries: yeah yeah I owe you one favor

Snow Angel: I cannot believe Team JNPR is willing to… star in a video and perform for strangers online.

Snow Angel: I have been trained in all kinds of dancing, but modern dance certainly is… a thing

Cereal Girl: To be fair, Ren choreographs most of them and we just have to follow his steps. I don’t think any of us are skilled at, say, ballroom dancing or waltzing on the spot.

Snow Angel: I certainly can’t imagine Jaune sweeping any woman off their feet.

Vomit Boy: hey!

Queen of the Castle: I can definitely try!

Ren-sensei: I must confess that I am not well-versed in those dances as well.

Vomit Boy: yeah! totally! i definitely cant dance like that… yeah…

Snow Angel: Nevertheless, this is still quite the undertaking. And all this to garner views for your competition with Ruby?

Queen of the Castle: Eh, why not? Might as well put all this training to use.

SunnyLittleDragon: isn’t it unfair since you have p-money on your team?

RedLikeStrawberries: that’s what the masks are for! and we have a leader friend who knows a guy we can buy onesies from for cheap!

Big Kitty Goth GF: yknow what

Big Kitty Goth GF: fine

Big Kitty Goth GF: id be down to try doing this next time if we have masks

Big Kitty Goth GF: drop the onesie tho

Vomit Boy: whats wrong with the onesies???

Big Kitty Goth GF: do i _really_ have to explain whats wrong

SunnyLittleDragon: as long as ren doesn’t yell at us im game

Queen of the Castle: Woooo! Team JNPR’s ready to go anytime!

Queen of the Castle: We’re _so_ gonna get more hits than you guys!

RedLikeStrawberries: good idea nora!!! watch your butt jaune, team rwby’s gonna beat team jnpr once we get some practice in!

Snow Angel: I didn’t sign up for this!

Snow Angel: I cannot believe that we all wasted this entire day on… shenanigans!

Snow Angel: We should be preparing for exams! Worry about this competition of yours later!

SunnyLittleDragon: aww weiss its ok you have to admit it looks fun

RedLikeStrawberries: yeah weiss! i cant leave my BFF out of the fun!

Snow Angel: Yes you can, you leave Jaune out of most things!

RedLikeStrawberries: yeah, but he’s not BFF! you are! he’s my BF! those are completely different!

SunnyLittleDragon: uhhhhh

SunnyLittleDragon: care to explain, VB?

Vomit Boy: this is the first time im hearing this???

_Someone is typing…_

Snow Angel: You’re not going to protect Jaune this time, Pyrrha?

Cereal Girl: No. Why should I? I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding… and Yang claims she goes easy on him…

Big Kitty Goth GF: pyr please don’t mess up my scroll with your semblance.

Cereal Girl: Oops! I’m sorry!

Ren-sensei: Besides, it _is_ a misunderstanding. Let me show you.

 _Ren-sensei uploaded a photo_.

Ren-sensei: As you can see, Ruby has them properly labeled, she just… hasn’t realized the implications of the labels yet.

Cereal Girl: Oh dear. It really is a misunderstanding.

Snow Angel: That sounds like a mistake she would make.

Snow Angel: You’re not worried for your leader, Ren?

Ren-sensei: He’ll be fine. Besides, it’s funnier this way.

Queen of the Castle: It’s true! Ren is laughing so hard right now!

Queen of the Castle: Anyway, Pyrrha, I was interrupted earlier but I’m surprised you didn’t figure out the reason behind the chat name yet

Cereal Girl: That is true. I am afraid such things aren’t as… apparent to me.

Queen of the Castle: You mean it isn’t obvious?!

Queen of the Castle: I mean look at us! Between our Aura and our looks, we’ve got all the colors in the rainbow!

Queen of the Castle: I remember back when I was a kid there was this story that rainbows were bridges to the Brothers themselves. They were a symbol of unbreakable connections!

Snow Angel: That’s… that’s a very well-thought out reason you’ve laid out there, Nora.

RedLikeStrawberries: aww that’s so sweet nora 😊

Big Kitty Goth GF: wait, but aren’t there seven colors in a rainbow? theres eight of us here

Big Kitty Goth GF: guess one of us doesn’t belong

Ren-sensei: By Nora’s logic, there is someone here who doesn’t have a dominant color scheme fitting with the rainbow motif.

Vomit Boy: really? who?

Queen of the Castle: FL! You’re alive!

Snow Angel: It’s you, you oblivious dolt!

Vomit Boy: whaaaat

Vomit Boy: im totally representing yellow

RedLikeStrawberries: no yang is yellow

RedLikeStrawberries: besides you’re like, a mess of colors with no coherent theme

Vomit Boy: speaking of is yang still chasing me

RedLikeStrawberries: still not back yet

Snow Angel: It figures since you have _no_ fashion sense whatsoever.

Vomit Boy: hey! i’ll have you know that that fashionable second year leader keeps trying to buy my hoodie!

RedLikeStrawberries: coco wants it for completely different reasons jaune

Big Kitty Goth GF: sorry jaune guess we’re gonna have to kick you out of the chat

Cereal Girl: Blake! Be nice.

Queen of the Castle: We have to keep up the theme after all!

Vomit Boy: oh come on! arent there like a million invisible colors on the spectrum? why cant i be one of those?

RedLikeStrawberries: this is prolly a bad time but uh i taught yang how to use the gps tracker on her scroll

Vomit Boy: _you what_

Ren-sensei: I’ll prepare the medical kit.

Queen of the Castle: I’ll pick up Jaune!

Cereal Girl: I suppose I’ll prepare his bed.

_Someone is typing…_

SunnyLittleDragon: **there you are**

Vomit Boy: dsdasdasdfsafadf

\---0---

_…Prepare for your greatest moments  
Prepare for your finest hour  
The dream that you've always dreamed is suddenly about to flower_

_We are lightning_   
_Straying from the thunder_   
_Miracles of ancient wonder_

_This will be the day we’ve waited for…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t get Summer Ushi, and she was all I ever wanted ☹ Speaking of troubled girls, it’s gonna suck that Blake slips back to angsting for most of volume 2 after the work I put in here to get her to calm down somewhat. Blake, I love you, and I don’t blame you for being a victim of abuse learning to cope with her trauma, but you make it so hard to write fluff around you!
> 
> Anyway, how’s this format working out? I hope to do more of these in the main part of the fic as well! Also, the main ‘plot’ of this chapter is inspired by me watching MMD RWBY videos for the past few days. Expect a continuation of this in Arc 2, when a certain team dance video goes viral in the aftermath of the Breach…


	9. Volume 2.25 (Tuesday): id love to wrap my hands around the protagonist’s katana!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back! I'm done with the FGO summer event (tfw no Summer Ushi T_T), so here, have this chapter. It’s the start of Arc 2! Time for new ongoing subplots, more characters popping in and out, more friendship fluff! Oh boy there’s gonna be a lot of friendship fluff! Incidentally, it doesn’t matter much but the Cardin & Neo story I published recently is canon within this universe I’m setting up (which is meant to be canon-compliant, but y’know how Chibi is…)
> 
> Timeline wise: I placed the dance on a Friday, and the Breach occurs over the course of the weekend. Our intrepid heroes have, as of this chapter, only had the Monday off…
> 
> A bit of a content warning: references to Adam and Blake's relationship in the past, has elements of abuse

**Volume 2.25 (Tuesday):** id love to wrap my hands around the protagonist’s katana!

_Welcome to **Ladybug**!_

Milk Chocolate Stan: BLAKE

Milk Chocolate Stan: BLAKE BLAKE BLAKE BLAKE BLAKE

Dark Chocolate Stan: what

Milk Chocolate Stan: where is everybody???

Milk Chocolate Stan: i came back to the dorms and everyone’s gone!!!

_Someone is typing…_

Dark Chocolate Stan: sry was busy

Dark Chocolate Stan: im w pyr n jaune in the library

Dark Chocolate Stan: we’re writing sth

Dark Chocolate Stan: no clue where the others are

Milk Chocolate Stan: huh, ok.

_Someone is typing…_

Milk Chocolate Stan: are you sure you’re not avoiding the room because you’re afraid zwei is there

Dark Chocolate Stan: ok first of all

Dark Chocolate Stan: you _really_ need to put your dog on a leash

Dark Chocolate Stan: second, i _know_ yang took zwei with her.

Dark Chocolate Stan: for the record, we’re really busy atm and im not using our deadlines as an excuse to avoid zwei. Im trying to make a point of not running away from my problems.

Dark Chocolate Stan: for once, anyway

Milk Chocolate Stan: wait, so where’s yang? and weiss, for that matter?

Dark Chocolate Stan: yang mentioned sth abt hanging out w ren and nora but i didn’t catch the deets. im assuming weiss is with her because wherever the dog goes, she goes.

Milk Chocolate Stan: oh… okay…

Milk Chocolate Stan: so uh, i don’t have anything else I need to do today, so…

Milk Chocolate Stan: can i join you guys?

\---0---

Ruby’s scroll buzzed with a new notification.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Milk and Cereal**!_

Brings the Cereal: **NO**

\---0---

_Welcome to **Ladybug**!_

Dark Chocolate Stan: sry i brought it up w pyr n jaune

Dark Chocolate Stan: they both refused

Dark Chocolate Stan: sorry we’re kinda on a deadline here, and pyr’s getting really stressed

Dark Chocolate Stan: we really underestimated the work we needed to put in for this

Milk Chocolate Stan: is that why you had to recruit Jaune?

Dark Chocolate Stan: …yeah.

Dark Chocolate Stan: real sorry abt that ruby. ill make it up to you later.

Milk Chocolate Stan: naaah its ok! it’s not your fault blake!

\---0---

As she settled onto her bed, having just returned from a lengthy maintenance session with Crescent Rose, Ruby began to meditate about how, in retrospect, the events of the past month or so were _Blake’s_ fault.

Not that she was casting aspersions on Blake’s character or anything, but all the trouble they had gone through in the first part of the semester was directly or indirectly tied to Blake. It was a strange realization to make – Blake had actually calmed down a lot ever since the incident at the docks, and Ruby felt that Blake was slowly opening up to her team (she didn’t miss the fact that Yang and Blake spent even more time together now than ever before, even going out to Vale with Pyrrha and Jaune the weekend after exams) and was generally less closed-off and secretive. Blake had also maintained regular contact with everyone during the break via their various group chats, even when Ruby and Yang had left for Patch, leaving behind Weiss and Blake to spend time with the entirety of Team JNPR, who for one reason or another had opted to stay behind in Beacon. The point was, Blake was being _sociable_ , a far cry from when the semester had started! She wasn’t even picking fights with Weiss anymore!

(Ruby didn’t know, obviously, but the chat between Weiss and Blake vacillated constantly from being named ‘Monochrome’ to ‘Checkmate’ and was less a chat between friends and more a structured platform for formal debate-style exchanges. Weiss was currently in the lead, points-wise, and Blake was in the process of arguing the biases of the judge panel of Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha, but no such luck on that front yet.)

But _something_ happened on that last day of the break (Jaune and Pyrrha were unusually cagey on the subject matter, only mentioning that it was a private thing and Blake should be the one to talk about it) when they accidentally caused one of the largest battle disasters in Beacon history, a fight that historians would record as the _Fifth Great Beacon Cafeteria War_ , colloquially known as the _Food Fight_. While sources dispute who _actually_ won the war, thanks to the rules of engagement being unclear, it was universally agreed upon that the war was triggered after an ill-timed pie throw was made by a combatant whose name would be left unmentioned ( _cough_ Nora _cough_ ) for the sake of maintaining the peace. (The rest, unfortunately, was a story for another time.)

Yang was the first to notice the signs, of course: Blake had once more retreated into her moody, reclusive self, sketching someone in the margins of her notebook and listing observations that were _clearly_ not classroom notes, if only because Ruby was aware that Blake barely took notes in class in the first place and spent most of her classes chatting with Pyrrha about whatever secret hobby they carried out in their spare time. Yang probably would have gotten Blake to talk if not for _someone_ ’s act of aggression, but at least they were able to pry the source of Blake’s anxieties later that evening. _That_ was the start of it all.

Ruby honestly couldn’t believe it when she sat down and recalled the wild events of the past month, from their investigation into the White Fang that culminated in a fight against a prototype Atlesian Paladin model, an infiltration attempt at the Beacon’s Cross Continental Transmit System Tower by a mysterious lady whose strange, stilted jumps across the rooftop hid a dangerous fighting style, an attempted breach of Vale’s defenses by the White Fang and Grimm, and most insidiously of all, a dust-damned _school dance_. She had to wear lady stilts! _Lady stilts!_

But in all seriousness, Ruby had to accept that all of this only happened because of _Blake_. She couldn’t hold it against her, considering that she had a point: they couldn’t just wait around and let the enemy _come to them_. If they hadn’t sought out the initiative to investigate Mountain Glenn on their own, who knows how the Breach would have played out? But that ill-fated mission, while nominally a success, had left the team deeply uneasy about too many things: Weiss was taking her loss to the White Fang Lieutenant _hard_ , as was Yang with the, as she put it, “tiny-ass ice cream shorty” that defeated her, but Ruby felt that Yang’s mind was on different things. And the Breach was prevented, but as Ozpin and the media coverage of the event were all too eager to point out, the defense of Vale _was_ sloppy. It couldn’t be helped that most of the Beacon students had flown off for their missions already, and the local defense offered by the city had always paled in comparison to the strength of Hunters, but the Breach had only intensified the Atlesian patrols that were now roaming the streets of Vale in the name of security. Even Ruby wasn’t _that_ ignorant of international politics, even if Weiss had to explain the finer implications of Atlas moving its army into Vale.

The events of the Breach had affected their sister team too, if indirectly: Jaune had, reluctantly, hinted that he felt bad for cancelling their own mission, one that Ren was looking forward to doing, to support Team RWBY’s fight with the invading Grimm. It was lucky, in fact, that JNPR wasn’t punished for essentially commandeering a bullhead and rush to Vale, explicitly _against_ the orders of the school, and Jaune had sworn up and down that he would do it all over again to help their team, but Ruby didn’t miss the awkward glances Jaune sent towards Ren, still feeling guilt for cancelling their own mission, nor did she not notice Pyrrha’s averting her gaze when Ruby looked her way. Pyrrha wanted to say _something_ , Ruby could tell, and it was not something positive. Nora, bless her, took everything in stride.

So fine: things were a bit strained with RWBY and JNPR. Compounding things, Ozpin had given them the week off to recover from the Breach, and with most of the students still out shadowing veteran hunters, classes for the most part were cancelled, except for a few miscellaneous classes like Combat class (which Ruby suspected was more because Glynda couldn’t fathom the idea of _not_ teaching classes and overburdening herself with her academic and administrative load. Sometimes, Ruby suspected, Glynda was addicted to carrying the entire professorial staff on her back.) Granted, a week-long break _sounded_ great, but they were also _strongly_ encouraged to avoid heading to Vale for… reasons that were honestly not worth going into now. Their Monday, as a result, was truly horrendous: nobody felt the need to leave their beds, ruminating on the fallout of the Breach and their various interpersonal troubles. Ren and Jaune had to force Team RWBY to eat lunch, and it took the combined might of Nora and Pyrrha to pry open RWBY’s dorm room and force the inhabitants to leave their cave and be exposed to the sun. Lunch that day was horrendous: Jaune could not utter a word, looking sheepishly at the sullen figure of Weiss, who was glaring a hole into her lunch, ruminating about her loss. Yang was very much the same, staring into the distance, outside the cafeteria, seemingly searching for anything, like a crow or a raven, flying around. Pyrrha and Blake, normally sat on opposite sides of the table having a secret conversation, were now awkwardly avoiding each other’s gazes – Pyrrha would try to start a conversation, but stop herself, and Blake buried herself into her books, even if she she read at such a glacial pace that at one point Ruby was confident Blake hadn’t flipped her page in almost five minutes.

The end result: Ruby feared everyone would start suffering from cabin fever at the end of the week.

And all this because Blake wanted to investigate the White Fang!

\---0---

_Welcome to **Ladybug**!_

Milk Chocolate Stan: so um

Milk Chocolate Stan: blake?

Dark Chocolate Stan: yes, ruby

Milk Chocolate Stan: i have a real big favor i have to ask

_Someone is typing…_

Dark Chocolate Stan: no ruby i am not lending you any of my uh

Dark Chocolate Stan: special books

Dark Chocolate Stan: yang’s already on my case for the last time you got one of my books

Milk Chocolate Stan: what, no! that’s not what I wanted to ask!

Milk Chocolate Stan: not right now anyway

Milk Chocolate Stan: :wink: :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Dark Chocolate Stan: ruby, please stop highlighting all the “good parts”

Dark Chocolate Stan: im not exactly a fan of highlighter fluid on my books

Dark Chocolate Stan: i also don’t need your notes on all the weapon details and combat in my books

Milk Chocolate Stan: but the detail on that katana was _so good_

Milk Chocolate Stan: i cant not comment on the description of the curvature and the tsuba! Its just so vivid!

Milk Chocolate Stan: id love to wrap my hands around the protagonist’s katana!

Dark Chocolate Stan: brothers yang is gonna kill me

Milk Chocolate Stan: ???

Dark Chocolate Stan: never mind

Dark Chocolate Stan: what do you need ruby

_Someone is typing…_

Milk Chocolate Stan: your bffs with pyrrha right?

_Someone is typing…_

Dark Chocolate Stan: i wouldn’t go that far…

Milk Chocolate Stan: whats with the hesitation?

Dark Chocolate Stan: i asked pyr

Dark Chocolate Stan: “pyr, are we best friends?”

Dark Chocolate Stan: pyr and jaune started laughing. they’re _still_ laughing.

_Blake uploaded a photo!_

Dark Chocolate Stan: oh yeah, jaune says he’ll meet you later. we just need him for some last-minute edits

Milk Chocolate Stan: oh no that’s fine! take all the time you need!

_Someone is typing…_

Milk Chocolate Stan: look i just wanted to ask

Dark Chocolate Stan: shoot

Milk Chocolate Stan: is uh

Milk Chocolate Stan: is pyrrha mad at me?

\---0---

Taking a shower helped clear her thoughts, if only a little, and forced Ruby to look back on the events of the past month with a startling clarity her past self lacked. Ruby could admit to herself that she wasn’t exactly the _best_ at social interaction, and she continually rued this fact as Glynda would often warn all of them that, as leaders, it was necessary for them to learn interpersonal skills like negotiation and conflict management. But Ruby wasn’t blind – she could tell that Pyrrha, ever since the events of the Breach, had been unusually pensive, moreso than she had been the past month ever since team RWBY went on their White Fang investigation.

At first, Ruby felt that she and the red-haired goddess of victory got along well, and not just because Ruby’s best friend was Pyrrha’s partner: hell, there were no hard feelings when Ruby rammed that metal tray in Pyrrha’s face during the _Food Fight_ , right? But there were signs early on in the semester (most of which flew over Ruby's head, of course, until hindsight caught up with her), like when JNPR found out about the fight with the Atlesian Paladin and Pyrrha had a look of horror on her face as she realized that team RWBY went up against a state-of-the-art Atlesian mech designed to take out multiple Grimm and Human opponents. Ruby also didn’t miss the way Pyrrha seemed to nod along when Jaune jokingly made the aside about how they didn’t feel the need to tell team JNPR about their White Fang scouting mission but allowed the two transfer students from Haven tag along. Besides, she wasn’t blind to how Pyrrha told her, just today and in no uncertain terms, that she didn’t want to see her today! Over in chat, even!

(In Ruby’s defense, Sun and Neptune had essentially forced themselves onto the mission! She only wanted to scout for information! It wasn’t like they expected to get into a fight with a giant mech, even if it was a _ridiculously cool fight_!)

Still, the incident with the Paladin reminded Ruby, once again, that somehow, everything was Blake’s fault, because as “punishment” (honestly, the fact that they got away pretty much scot-free after the mess the fight with the Paladin left on the highways of Vale stumped Ruby to no end, considering she was previously _arrested_ for fighting off a robbery on a Dust shop) team RWBY “volunteered” to take over CFVY’s duties of organizing the school dance Beacon hosted to welcome to the transfer students coming on for the Vytal Festival.

 _That_ school dance certainly made things even more awkward for RWBY and JNPR: Blake, to Ruby’s dismay, was not satisfied in their role taking down the giant mech the White Fang and Roman Torchwick somehow acquired, and had begun spending more sleepless nights poring over documents at the library, desperately trying to figure out what plan the groups had for Vale. It had gotten to the point that _Pyrrha_ had to approach Ruby and Yang, telling the story of a visit to a bookstore with Blake that turned tragic when they discovered that the owner was murdered (the fact that Blake and the owner, Tukson, had some connection was left unspoken and Pyrrha, as ever, refused to divulge Blake’s secrets, only choosing to tell the sisters that Blake desperately needed her friends to support her), and while Yang did her best to reach out to Blake and had managed to get her to calm down enough to go to the dance, it had left _Pyrrha_ more isolated than ever. The way Ruby saw it, Pyrrha’s best friend was busy chasing leads about the White Fang to pay attention to her while Pyrrha’s partner was busy looking elsewhere instead of what was in front of him.

Ruby frowned at that, even if she wasn’t sure _what_ exactly she was annoyed about. Contrary to Weiss’ assertions, Ruby believed that Jaune was genuine in his attempts to woo the heiress, even if he went about it as awkwardly as Ruby did talking to strangers without invoking her love for weapons. (It didn’t help that Yang was, well, “subtly” encouraging Jaune every step of the way, acting like she was a life coach of some kind.) Ruby even found it endearing, watching Jaune try to serenade Weiss, but she didn’t like how Pyrrha looked… crushed as she watched her partner get rejected, or how rejecting Jaune constantly brought out Weiss’ harsher side, the part of her she tried desperately to curb, or how Jaune tried _so hard_ to be cool and suave and be everything he simply wasn’t just to try and appease Weiss, and as a result came across as pushy. Honestly, if he acted _less_ cool, Ruby would appreciate it, and she wanted to believe Weiss would, too!

But Ruby didn’t like all that nonsense because it made interactions between the sister teams awkward. It was an incredibly toxic mess of teenage hormones, the kind of thing that her dad constantly warned about, and Ruby hated that, as an outsider to the whole drama, she felt that nobody truly was in the _wrong_ , and as a result, she could not intervene before the mess of emotions got out of hand.

The events of the Breach, Ruby felt, were the last straw: morale was at an all-time low for the two teams, and when they met up for their customary lunch meeting yesterday, nobody had the energy to muster up any form of conversation. Everyone was busy nursing injuries – nothing major, nothing that demanded immediate medical concerns, only small wounds, cuts, bruises. But sometimes the most insidious wounds were the smallest.

Ruby hated it.

Ruby hated how the bonds that they had carefully built up over the course of a semester seemingly disintegrated in the course of a month, not through some big, earth-shattering cataclysm, but through a series of small and innocuous mistakes. Sure, Ruby could have reached out to Jaune’s team for help during the White Fang investigation, and maybe they could have avoided bringing the fight against the Paladin onto the highways of Vale (imagine Pyrrha with her semblance, Nora with her hammer, Ren with his ability to calm down civilians, and Jaune... well, Jaune was there), and maybe she could have intervened before the drama with Weiss and Jaune and Pyrrha and Blake and Yang could have escalated, and maybe she could have handled the Mountain Glenn incident better if she hadn’t fallen into a hole and accidentally stumbled into the White Fang plot completely unprepared before they got Grimm into the city and JNPR had to cancel their own mission to bail RWBY out of the mess they got themselves into.

Maybe, maybe, _maybe_.

 _Oh no,_ Ruby realized, _I’m starting to sound like Blake_.

She needed to distract herself from this sobering thought. Luckily, she had the delivery package she had picked up today…

\---0---

_Welcome to **Ladybug**!_

Dark Chocolate Stan: …what makes you think that?

Milk Chocolate Stan: i mean

Milk Chocolate Stan: never mind

Milk Chocolate Stan: im just being paranoid haha

Dark Chocolate Stan: …right

Milk Chocolate Stan: anw i finally got the chocolates yesterday

Dark Chocolate Stan: really?

Milk Chocolate Stan: yeah turns out that the delays meant they werent affected much by the breach

Dark Chocolate Stan: yaaaay

Dark Chocolate Stan: SDC shipping incompetence means we get our chocolates earlier than expected

Dark Chocolate Stan: :toot: :celebrate: :flag_wave:

Milk Chocolate Stan: stop being a grimm magnet and just appreciate the fact that we get our chocolate early blake!

_Milk Chocolate Stan uploaded a photo!_

Milk Chocolate Stan: i got your Argus brand “winedark sea” chocolate

Dark Chocolate Stan: what about the chocolate that weiss promoted

Dark Chocolate Stan: ahem, “allegedly”

Milk Chocolate Stan: yessir i got me my weiss schnee endorsed snow-white chocolate

Dark Chocolate Stan: you know weiss is gonna be soooo pissed when she finds out you ordered stuff in her name right :smirk_cat:

Milk Chocolate Stan: it’s a risk im willing to take blake

Milk Chocolate Stan: i cant not have a bite of my bff’s chocolate

Milk Chocolate Stan: anw ill leave your chocolate on your desk. dont let yang eat it!

Dark Chocolate Stan: don’t try and steal a few bites this time, those are very expensive

Dark Chocolate Stan: im just glad i can afford em now. beacon stipends are nice.

Milk Chocolate Stan: aww i apologized already for the last time

Milk Chocolate Stan: besides you liked my chocolates last time i could tell cuz your ears were twitching

Dark Chocolate Stan: they do that on their own! they don’t mean anything and you’re a racist if you assume otherwise :pouting_cat:

Dark Chocolate Stan: look, just stick to your chocolate for now. you’re too young for the dark stuff

Milk Chocolate Stan: yang keeps saying the same thing!

Milk Chocolate Stan: first of all im already an adult! i grew up already bc _i eat milk chocolate!_

\---0---

Ruby wasn’t exactly sure when she began picking up Blake’s habits and mannerisms, or even when she started understanding Blake’s mindset a little better, but she suspected that it was the culmination of many little accumulated interactions, not through some earth-shattering moment of realization.

While Ruby wouldn’t call herself and Blake the _best of friends_ , she liked to think that she got along with the resident Faunus of the team, even before the incident at the docks and the subsequent events that followed. It had started the first night, of course, when Ruby and Yang tried to strike up a conversation with the mysterious girl in the alluring sleepwear (it was the first time Ruby had heard of the word _yukata_ before, and Yang only knew of it secondhand) who was reading the hardbound book with the dust jacket that was obviously a cover for whatever she was actually reading. Ruby didn’t judge – she had secretly borrowed a lot of similar books from her Uncle Qrow’s secret stash, the ones he pretended not to read in the guest room (reserved for him, of course) during the rare occasions that he stayed over between top-secret missions.

(Much, much later, when she broached the subject with her uncle and he sheepishly revealed from whom he got his… _specialized_ literature from, Ruby simultaneously blushed to the high heavens and felt a single tear run down her cheek, her eyes flickering silver, or so her Uncle Qrow pointed out.)

Ruby often wondered what Blake’s childhood was like. (She did that a lot, imagining what her friends’ childhoods were like.) She knew that the Faunus had been a member of the White Fang from a young age, and had been forced to grow up faster than most, but Ruby was confident that underneath the hardened exterior was a friendly and approachable girl. Ruby knew this because, despite being off in her own little corner to read her books, Ruby never felt that Blake was actively shutting them out of her life, just… keeping her distance. But occasionally she would notice Blake silently listening to their conversations at lunch, and she wouldn’t miss how Blake would linger on a particular page for a minute too long while Yang or Nora were regaling the table with some extravagant story, or roll her eyes at Jaune being, well, Jaune, or giggle at Weiss and Ren discuss something brought up in class when she thought nobody was looking. Every now and then the two of them would lock eyes and Blake would give her a wry, knowing smile, as if admitting that she was caught trying to steal from a cookie jar, and it was in those moments that Ruby felt that she and Blake were more alike that she initially thought possible.

Soon she was borrowing books from Blake’s personal collection, first without Blake’s permission (it wasn’t her fault Blake carelessly left around her limited-edition copy of _Ninjas of Love_ just lying around!) but she eventually obtained Blake’s permission, and things spiraled from there. Ruby much preferred reading fairy tales and stories of heroes, but she wasn’t that picky, and while Blake was initially hesitant, she began lending her preferred novels to Ruby. Ruby, being Ruby, gravitated towards novels with fantastic fight scenes and exotic weapons, but at least it was a start! And Blake was all too willing to put up with Ruby focusing on the length of a katana over the two protagonists and their developing relationship. Still, Ruby was miffed that Blake seemed to try and prevent her from getting the _truly_ adult stuff. She was fifteen! Surely she could handle it!

(A notion that would be disproven, repeatedly, anytime it had to be pointed out to Ruby that she just uttered something utterly scandalous without knowing it.)

Ruby had even silently rejoiced when she learned that Blake and Pyrrha were getting along well, and had formed a little fan club of sorts, bonding over their shared love of… specialized literature and Mistralian cartoons (although she never understood the duo’s obsession with the latter – she preferred Valean superhero fiction instead, a sentiment shared by her sister, Jaune, and Ren). Even Jaune was somehow recruited into their little reading club! Ruby was glad, because Blake finding friends with common interests did wonders for her, and what used to be rare glimpses of a smile on someone who was otherwise somber and reserved became increasingly frequent. Ruby even noticed the cat Faunus revealing a, well, cattier side, what with the subtle teasing Blake would sometimes pull on Jaune or Pyrrha in their group chats, and while she winced at how Blake seemed to mercilessly tease Jaune on occasion, she was sure that Blake never really _meant_ any of it.

And then the owner of Tukson’s Book Trade was murdered, and, well…

Perhaps that was why Ruby was so insistent that Blake attend the dance in the first place: she had wanted, desperately, to help Blake recapture some of that joy and childlike wonder that she sometimes spied in Blake’s eyes during the first semester. Ruby didn’t like to assume things of her friends, but a part of her wondered just how much of a childhood Blake even got to experience, growing up in the Fang. She knew that she would never fully understand Blake’s life, not having grown up with much in the way of prejudice and discrimination the way the Faunus did, but perhaps as team leader she could help _now_.

Which was why when Ruby discovered that Blake had not had much of an opportunity to eat good chocolate lately, Ruby jumped on the chance to rectify that. She told herself and Blake that it was a reward, that they needed to unwind after the grueling exams they barely survived, but if Ruby was being particularly honest with herself, she really just wanted to see the look in Blake’s face when she got to experience chocolate for (Ruby believed) the first time in a long, _long_ time.

Perhaps that was why, despite everything, even if a lot of what had been happening lately between RWBY and JNPR were _technically_ Blake’s fault, Ruby could not bring herself to blame Blake. Ruby and Blake certainly weren’t the _best_ of friends, but Ruby liked to think that she understood Blake’s mindset a little better, and that she could see where Blake was coming from – she wouldn’t have been willing to help Blake out through all the mess with the White Fang otherwise. Getting to know Blake and spending time with her let see things through Blake’s eyes.

So sure, maybe getting into Blake’s mindset meant she was becoming a _little_ paranoid. She had seen the worst of Blake, after all, the Blake who hissed at every little shadow and overworked herself to uncover a White Fang plot. That was fine. That was part of being an _adult_ , wasn’t it? That was why she ate all that milk chocolate!

Ruby shook her head to end her endless train of thoughts. She couldn’t afford to lie around in bed all day.

Instead, Ruby got up and headed towards Blake’s desk. Surveying the landscape in front of her, Ruby couldn’t help but envy the organization and minimalism of Blake’s desk – her notebooks and study materials were bundled neatly, stacked in a clean-looking pile at the far end of her desk. There was a small nightlamp in the corner, the dust mostly left unused, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out why Blake didn’t need it. The entirety of the desk was bereft of dusk, or cookie bits, or leftover chocolate wrappers, or whatever snacks Ruby ate on her desk. There were also no stacks of papers, all adorned with doodles of weapon upgrades Ruby imagined for her team and their sister team’s, nor were there any unfinished homework, scattered despite an attempt to organize by order of deadline.

Opening the drawer, Ruby admired even the organization of Blake’s pens, papers, and other miscellaneous supplies, and just how much empty space was in her drawers. (It was a sharp contrast to Blake’s bookshelf, which had books of many shapes and sizes squeezed carefully, extracting as much out of her little shelves.) Looking at all the empty space, Ruby chose to put Blake’s dark chocolates on the corner of the Faunus’ drawer. Blake certainly knew how to organize, Ruby mused, and if anything, Blake knew how to compartmentalize her things, hoping to occupy as little space as possible. What was her life before Beacon like to be like this?

Ruby shook her head again. _Great, now I’m overanalyzing everything like Blake again…_

\---0---

_Welcome to **Ladybug**!_

Milk Chocolate Stan: placed the chocolates on your desk blake!

Dark Chocolate Stan: mhm

Dark Chocolate Stan: you didn’t steal any right

Milk Chocolate Stan: no! and you’re one to talk, considering last time!

Dark Chocolate Stan: i said i was sorry! i just wanted to try them!

_Someone is typing…_

Milk Chocolate Stan: gotta say tho, your desk is really neat and clean

Milk Chocolate Stan: man, i wish I could be as organized as you

Dark Chocolate Stan: trust me, i always wasn’t the neat freak you’re painting me as

Milk Chocolate Stan: whaaaat no way

Dark Chocolate Stan: yeah

Dark Chocolate Stan: it’s a long story

_Someone is typing…_

Milk Chocolate Stan: so um

Milk Chocolate Stan: is it ok if you tell me abt it

Dark Chocolate Stan: its, uh, a story from my past

Dark Chocolate Stan: ive kind of told yang and weiss about it, and i think i should tell pyr too

Dark Chocolate Stan: i don’t mind telling you, but its kind of… heavy. you prolly don’t wanna hear it

Milk Chocolate Stan: i do!

Milk Chocolate Stan: i mean

Milk Chocolate Stan: um…

Milk Chocolate Stan: yeah… yeah, sure, go ahead, Blake.

Dark Chocolate Stan: …fine. give me a minute. im almost done w this part, and then ill take a break

_Someone is typing…_

Dark Chocolate Stan: back when i joined the Fang, i had a… mentor? friend?

Dark Chocolate Stan: i honestly don’t know how to describe our relationship at the moment

Dark Chocolate Stan: but I trusted him with my life.

Milk Chocolate Stan: trusted?

Dark Chocolate Stan: …he changed.

Dark Chocolate Stan: you see, back in the old days, back with… my old group, we couldn’t really afford a lot of luxuries

Dark Chocolate Stan: one time, I got myself a can of nice Atlesian tuna as a birthday gift

Dark Chocolate Stan: it was probably the best-tasting tuna of my life

Dark Chocolate Stan: when my partner saw me eating it, he got mad. said it was something our oppressors made, and that we shouldn’t be contributing to Atlesian companies before tossing away the stuff. happy birthday to me, am i right?

Dark Chocolate Stan: but that was my partner. he was the one who made me learn how to be organized when I was… when I was with the Fang.

_Someone is typing…_

Dark Chocolate Stan: my parents, they…

Dark Chocolate Stan: they used to get mad at me for leaving my books all over the place. but i was young and stupid, right? so i never listened.

Dark Chocolate Stan: when i ran away, all i had were my books and a few daily necessities. our living space was very limited out in the field, so i had to make do w so little

Dark Chocolate Stan: my partner, he’s bigger than most people his age. he took to sharing living quarters especially hard bc my stuff was always messy and his body wasn’t suited for cramped spaces

Dark Chocolate Stan: it got to the point that he screamed at me once for leaving my books laying around in camp, because he almost tripped over them after we returned from a particularly dangerous mission.

Milk Chocolate Stan: but… it’s not your fault. and even if you left your books around, he still shouldn’t scream at you

Dark Chocolate Stan: I know that now, but we had just watched our comrades get gunned down.

Dark Chocolate Stan: he took a hit for me. he looked me in the eye and i knew what was on his mind.

Dark Chocolate Stan: “you owe me your life.”

Dark Chocolate Stan: that was when i learned how to be organized.

Dark Chocolate Stan: living in the Fang, you learn quickly that space is a premium. Not much different from living in Menagerie, where we had limited living space since most of the island was desert.

Milk Chocolate Stan: Menagerie?

Dark Chocolate Stan: that’s where I lived.

_Someone is typing…_

Dark Chocolate Stan: sorry for dropping all that on you

Dark Chocolate Stan: ive been thinking a lot abt stuff people have said to me recently

Dark Chocolate Stan: I went too far, you know? i let myself drown in paranoia

Dark Chocolate Stan: it took you guys slapping some sense into me to remind me of that

Milk Chocolate Stan: but blake, we’re your friends.

Dark Chocolate Stan: yeah, but…

Dark Chocolate Stan: actually, me and pyr had a lil spat about this. maybe ill tell you about it some other time. kinda funny story

Dark Chocolate Stan: helped clear my head too, along w yang. they got me to go to the dance, did you know that?

Milk Chocolate Stan: oh yeah!!!

Milk Chocolate Stan: you n yang were so cute at the dance!!!

Milk Chocolate Stan: speaking of the dance, sun’s been complaining to me and jaune that you've been ignoring his invites to hang out after the dance

Dark Chocolate Stan: ???

Dark Chocolate Stan: i didn’t really spend that much time w him anyway before all this, and one dance won't change that

Milk Chocolate Stan: you seemed like you were having fun w him and Neptune, at least

Dark Chocolate Stan: they’re ok friends. but just that. _friends_. i’m not exactly looking to expand my social circle.

Dark Chocolate Stan: also, not a fan of neptune ditching weiss for most of the dance. did they break up already?

Milk Chocolate Stan: last i asked, weiss was adamant that they weren’t, um

Dark Chocolate Stan: together-together?

Milk Chocolate Stan: together-together.

Dark Chocolate Stan: in any case, why are you and jaune talking to sun?

Milk Chocolate Stan: what, we can’t be friends with your friends now? :smirk_cat:

Milk Chocolate Stan: but seriously, we're classmates in leadership class. coco just loves dumping on him, so jaune felt bad and reached out to him. they’re pretty good friends!

Dark Chocolate Stan: why am i not surprised?

Milk Chocolate Stan: so yeah sun says you’ve been avoiding him lately

Dark Chocolate Stan: _i told him not to read anything into it when I accepted his invitation_

Dark Chocolate Stan: besides, even if I say no to his invites, he'll just drop by unannounced and barge in like he always does, no matter what i say

Dark Chocolate Stan: what is it with blondes and how… dense they can be!

Milk Chocolate Stan: aw blake, im sure sun just means well

Dark Chocolate Stan: im sure he does! im just not comfortable with how pushy he is!

Milk Chocolate Stan: oh jeez blake, maybe you could have told jaune the same thing

_Someone is typing…_

Dark Chocolate Stan: …yeah, funny story about that. remind me to tell you about it some other time. its linked to the pyr story

Dark Chocolate Stan: look, my break’s almost over, and pyr’s giving me that scary look of hers

Dark Chocolate Stan: she only brings that out when she’s _really_ hyperfocusing on something, and this volume’s _way_ behind schedule already. you don’t wanna mess with pyrrha when she’s behind deadlines.

Milk Chocolate Stan: ok! i’ll leave you to it

_Someone is typing…_

Dark Chocolate Stan: oh, and ruby?

Milk Chocolate Stan: yeah?

Dark Chocolate Stan: um

Dark Chocolate Stan: you should ask pyrrha yourself, not me

Milk Chocolate Stan: um

Milk Chocolate Stan: ok?

Dark Chocolate Stan: im not gonna say _stop being paranoid_ bc that’s massively hypocritical of me but uh

Dark Chocolate Stan: don’t be like me, and don’t let things fester.

Dark Chocolate Stan: whatever guilt you’re feeling towards pyrrha, its better to just get it out in the open

Dark Chocolate Stan: you guys taught me that. _reminded_ me that. unfortunately, i don’t think I can be that kind of person anymore

Dark Chocolate Stan: it’s too late for me now. I used to like fairy tales too, you know?

Dark Chocolate Stan: but i grew up, and what I learned is that i tend to disappoint people and run away. my life’s the farthest thing from a fairy tale.

_Someone is typing…_

Milk Chocolate Stan: well… that’s why you’re here, right? In Beacon?

Milk Chocolate Stan: to make it better

Milk Chocolate Stan: and if you can’t believe in yourself, if you can’t trust yourself not to run away, then trust me instead. believe in the me who believes in you.

Dark Chocolate Stan: wait, did you just-

Milk Chocolate Stan: yeah, I finally got around to watching it. you were right, the show was so _cool_

Dark Chocolate Stan: …that was more of a pyr pick, not me. still, im glad you liked it.

Dark Chocolate Stan: ill admit, it’s a pretty childish show, but a part of me still likes it

Milk Chocolate Stan: yeah, well, that’s why you and yang are so similar

Dark Chocolate Stan: huh? what do you mean?

Milk Chocolate Stan: …you both like to pretend you’re more adult and grown up than you really are

Dark Chocolate Stan: _what_

Milk Chocolate Stan: besides, you keep saying only adults like dark chocolate, but i know you’re gonna try and steal some of my “kiddie” chocolates later. so don’t give me that “im all grown up” nonsense missy.

Milk Chocolate Stan: the ears don’t lie, blake

Dark Chocolate Stan: i wont steal your chocolate! And stop saying that! that’s very discriminatory! :pouting_cat:

\---0---

Talking with Blake, surprisingly, had put Ruby in a better mood, and it felt like the heavy feeling of dread that had begun pooling in the pit of her stomach lessened somewhat. Ruby wasn’t going to claim that her talks with Blake had made Blake recover from the dark pit that she found herself in for the entirety of the previous month, but Ruby liked to think that she helped give Blake the push she needed to drag herself out of it. The issues of the awkwardness between the two teams remained, sure, but they didn’t seem as _serious_ now. Ruby still had the nagging paranoia at the back of her head, but when Blake had described it as _guilt_ , something clicked in Ruby’s head.

Instead of relying on glances and looks, why couldn’t Ruby just _ask_ Pyrrha?

It had seemed so _obvious_ in hindsight that Ruby wanted to chide her past self for being so dust-damned anxious about it, but having put herself in Blake’s shoes for a bit, having dealt with a little of the anxiety and fear that Blake definitely lived with every day of her life, Ruby could say that she understood how hard it was to even consider making that first step. Ruby grappled with similar fears often. Sure, she wasn’t the type of person who let the intrusive thoughts get to her, but sometimes, late at night, they would creep up on her unawares, her throat tightening for a split-second as she choked on the fears, the questions, the doubt, the mistakes she had made in the past. Was she doing a good enough job? Could she have done better? Was she worth the trust her teammates and friends were placing on her?

They were fleeting thoughts, most of the time, momentary night terrors that would fade by morning. But the events of the past month had intensified the feelings, and Ruby found herself venturing to some dark places, even during the daylight. And that was just her own, personal feelings! She couldn’t imagine how it must be for Blake, who dealt with much more guilt and anguish in her life.

Not for the last time that day, Ruby felt in awe of Blake’s strength. Or was it stubbornness? Either way, the load she carried must have been immense, and yet here she was. And if Blake could be that strong, then surely Ruby could be, too.

Now, how should Ruby address the issues at hand…

\---0---

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW**!_

Queen of the Castle: **GUYS**

Queen of the Castle: **BIG NEWS**

Queen of the Castle **@everyone** you all need to see this!

_Queen of the Castle shared a streaming video!_

_Queen of the Castle played a video over the chat!_

RedLikeStrawberries: nora? where are you guys?

Ren-sensei: We took Zwei out on a walk. As it turns out, Beacon is _very_ conducive for dog walking when most of the student population isn’t around, apparently.

_Ren-sensei uploaded a photo!_

RedLikeStrawberries: aww, yang and weiss look so cute with zwei!!!

_Someone is typing…_

RedLikeStrawberries: wait, isn’t this your dance?

Queen of the Castle: Yep!

Queen of the Castle: _we’re going viral!_

RedLikeStrawberries: do we know who leaked the video? i thought professor ozpin and the atlas military had a blackout on media from the dance bc they didnt want to leak info abt an intruder breaking in

Ren-sensei: We’re not sure. the uploader’s account was just made today. we’re not even sure how they managed to go viral so quickly, considering they didn’t have any social media presence

Queen of the Castle: Yeah, and the big influencers are only promoting it now!

RedLikeStrawberries: how’d you find out about this?

Ren-sensei: We were accosted by a team who just returned from their mission today. Apparently, the video is blowing up all over the CCT network and DusTube, and the village they visited was busy gushing over “Pyrrha Nikos and her teammates’ dance video.”

Ren-sensei: I suspect that similar situations are occurring all the Kingdom.

SunnyLittleDragon: rubes me n weiss r takin zwei back to the dorms now

RedLikeStrawberries: ok!

Vomit Boy: aw man, pyr’s scroll is blowing up right now

Vomit Boy: we prolly wont make it back in time for dinner

Big Kitty Goth GF: and we were on _such_ a roll with the chapter outlines too

Queen of the Castle: Oh no! Is it her stuffy manager again?

Vomit Boy: i think so

Queen of the Castle: She’s been nagging Pyrrha for weeks! You know what we should do?

Snow Angel: No, Nora, we cannot break her manager’s scroll.

Snow Angel: In the first place, I doubt Professor Ozpin will let us travel all the way to Mistral just to break someone’s scroll.

Snow Angel: No matter how irritating managers can be.

Ren-sensei: Well said. Nevertheless, this is a very interesting situation we’re in.

RedLikeStrawberries: huh? what do you mean, ren?

Ren-sensei: Think about it. The timing of the release of the video is very suspect, especially because, as you have said, Headmaster Ozpin and the Atlas military are keeping as much information about the dance secret, in fear of any hints of the CCT break-in leaking to the public.

Big Kitty Goth GF: but somehow a leaked video of a dance gets out under the media blackout? curious how the one video that got out _just_ so happens to involve international celebrity pyrrha nikos

Big Kitty Goth GF: you might be onto something here ren

Ren-sensei: I imagine things will be rather difficult, not just for Pyrrha, but for JNPR as a whole as well. The media frenzy will be intense.

Ren-sensei: Perhaps this is why Ozpin also ordered us to take the week off?

SunnyLittleDragon: i wanna say we’re overthinking it, but…

Big Kitty Goth GF: im not saying we should be paranoid abt this. maybe this is good? Now the kingdom and the surrounding villages are distracted from the breach bc of a viral video

Vomit Boy: aw man, i hope my family doesn’t see this

Big Kitty Goth GF: they live out in the sticks, jaune

Vomit Boy: hey! don’t call my hometown the sticks! :pouting_cat:

Big Kitty Goth GF: stop appropriating my emotes first :dog:

Vomit Boy: but yeah, pyr looks really worried rn. what do we do about this, i wonder?

\---0---

What, indeed?

Ruby couldn’t focus at first, as her attention was on the video. Speaking of, she wasn’t sure what to make of the spectacle currently playing in their group chat, but she knew that she couldn’t take her eyes off it.

♫ ♫ ♫ _Baby, it's time to make up your mind_ ♫ ♫ ♫  
♫ ♫ ♫ _I think that tonight is when our stars align_ ♫ ♫ ♫

Ruby couldn’t _not_ watch the video of JNPR’s performance during the dance. Sure, she was there, watching from afar, but whoever took the video was close to the team and managed to capture their facial expressions and body language to a tee.

In the video, Jaune was sweating profusely, no doubt nervous about performing in front such a huge crowd, especially with such an energetic dance number. His body and his facial expressions, however, betrayed none of this, as he displayed that goofy yet confident grin he wore when something went his way for once while his body swayed and sashayed with a practiced ease that he displayed none of in combat. Ruby observed the ease and grace in which Jaune moved his body, even with the dress he had somehow acquired, and felt jealous that Jaune seemed more comfortable in said dress than she did with her own. _Still, he was cheating with those sneakers! Try lady stilts next time!_

(Much, much later, after much prodding, Ruby _finally_ managed to get Jaune to wear those damnable lady stilts, but that was a story for another time.)

♫ ♫ ♫ _Honey, it's time we leave the doubt behind_ ♫ ♫ ♫  
♫ ♫ ♫ _Take my hand 'cause you and I are gonna shine_ ♫ ♫ ♫

Ren was the face of professionalism: each move of his was calculated, with little to no energy wasted as he transitioned from kick step to kick step to bodyroll. If you were being critical of his movements, they were perhaps slightly _too_ mechanical, like Ren had spent hours (three hours per week, Ruby clarified in her head) refining his movement, but it was only visible to the people who knew Ren enough to know how graceful his usual movement was.

♫ ♫ ♫ _When I needed a hero, you knew it_ ♫ ♫ ♫ _  
_ ♫ ♫ ♫ _And you were there_ ♫ ♫ ♫ _  
_ ♫ ♫ ♫ _And I'm scared, but I'll open my heart up_ ♫ ♫ ♫ _  
_ ♫ ♫ ♫ _I'm ready to dare_ ♫ ♫ ♫

Nora was pure energy and passion, which translated to the way she moved on the dance floor. Nora’s face lit up in rapture, soaking in the applause, the gaze, and the laughter of the crowd all the same, relishing the moment the laughter turned into awe, and despite her small stature, Ruby swore that she was the largest person in the room. Each swing of her arms, each step Nora too, was infused by her passion, even when she wasn’t completely in tune with the music, and they held an ineffable _power_ behind each stroke, each body roll.

♫ ♫ ♫ _I know I've never felt like this before_ ♫ ♫ ♫ _  
_ ♫ ♫ ♫ _I never really knew what love was for_ ♫ ♫ ♫ __  
♫ ♫ ♫ _I dreamed_ ♫ ♫ ♫ _  
_ ♫ ♫ ♫ _But never did believe_ ♫ ♫ ♫

To the untrained eye, Pyrrha’s moves were _flawless_ – like the commenters to the viral video would say, the _Invincible Girl_ does it again! Each step, each transition flowed with the rhythm of the song, her face giving off her practiced smile conveying confidence and strength. It was so, _so_ easy to think that Pyrrha had spontaneously learned how to dance that day and picked it up as easily as she did combat, or her schoolwork, or whatever else people saw her pick up.

But Ruby knew better, as she had watched Team JNPR practice endlessly during the weekends, watched Pyrrha struggle to perform the simplest kick step, shuddered as Ren would grow increasingly irate at Pyrrha for messing up the simplest steps, smiled at the way Nora would whine at how often they had to repeat the same sequence until everyone got it right, rejoiced at the way Jaune would throw comforting looks and reassuring pats on Pyrrha’s shoulders every time she messed it up, sigh in relief at the apologies Ren would offer for going too far to Pyrrha once everyone was finished for the day, and admired even the way that Pyrrha would stay behind after everyone had gone to the showers, asking Ruby to operate the music for her as she tried the routine over and over and over and over again until she got it _right_. Because _that_ was who the _Invincible Girl_ was, and she was _not_ about to let her team down.

As the video winded down, Ruby looked back to the past few days, and how stressful everything had been. On the other hand, watching team JNPR dance their heart out in front of an audience reminded Ruby of a simpler time. Sure, there was a lot of emotional drama before the dance, and afterwards the Breach brought an incredible amount of stress to all of them, but in that moment, when JNPR managed to get everyone to forget that the next day they were back to work, to forget all their angst and teenage hormones and just start _dancing_ , things were right in the world. But now, with their video going viral and the promise of the logistical headaches that it would bring to their sister team, it felt as if the next week would not be much _fun_ for them…

Ruby’s mind came to a quick stop, the gears turning in her head.

 _This is what’s been missing_.

The sheer joy that JNPR exhibited dancing, the exhilaration of doing something not because it was their duty, or because they had to protect the city, or because of some misguided attempt to _change the world_. Just friends, goofing off, doing something they practiced for fun, something they did because they wanted to improve themselves and support each other. They didn’t get to have that much _fun_ lately. When was the last time their group did anything remotely resembling the word _fun_ , when they weren’t worried about whatever it was the White Fang was up to? The _Food Fight_? _Well, isn’t that depressing_.

Well, Torchwick was imprisoned, and they foiled the White Fang’s plot! Surely that meant a celebration was in order! And perhaps they could take advantage of that celebration to plan out what to do about this viral video! Maybe they could take advantage of it somehow, help in calming down the populace of Vale? When was the last time the two teams had a sleepover, anyway?

(Much later, when they decided on a plan to piggyback off the popularity of the video to start their own DusTube accounts, or in Jaune’s case, get a boost for his ASMR channel, Ruby began to wonder if their secret leaker also had this in mind.)

Her head now swimming with plans and codenames, Ruby began to consider the next few steps she needed to take. She _definitely_ needed Jaune’s help to plan this, so she had to talk to him later… perhaps it was also a good chance to talk to Pyrrha and hash things out?

_Two birds with one stone. Sorry, birdie!_

But to do that, she needed a second in command. Good thing she already had one around!

\---0---

_Welcome to **Ladybug**!_

Milk Chocolate Stan: BLAKE

Milk Chocolate Stan: BLAKE BLAKE BLAKE BLAKE BLAKE

Dark Chocolate Stan: what

Milk Chocolate Stan: i have a plan and i need your help

Dark Chocolate Stan: …what?

Milk Chocolate Stan: am i right in assuming that pyrrha’s been crabby the past few days bc of this deadline you guys are trying to reach

Dark Chocolate Stan: …yeah?

Milk Chocolate Stan: and can you confirm that, right now, pyrrha and the rest of team JNPR need our help to deal with this whole video thing

Dark Chocolate Stan: uhhhhhhh

Dark Chocolate Stan: sure

Dark Chocolate Stan: if only because I hate seeing pyr like this

Dark Chocolate Stan: jaunes doing his best to calm her down right now and i feel like such a third wheel

Milk Chocolate Stan: cmon, you’re not

Milk Chocolate Stan: i wont tell you to _stop being paranoid_ , but at the very least, try not think about that and think about how pyrrha needs all the friends she needs rn.

Dark Chocolate Stan: …right. So what do you need?

_Someone is typing…_

Milk Chocolate Stan: so I was thinking, we…

\---0---

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNBW**!_

RedLikeStrawberries: ok!

RedLikeStrawberries: in light of recent events, I would like to call on **@everyone** to attend a special conference tonight. I’ll set the time later, but the duration will be overnight! Bring rations and nourishment because we have a lot of agendas to cover! Dress comfortably, as we will be at this meeting all night!

Snow Angel: …Ruby, are you telling us we’re having a sleepover?

RedLikeStrawberries: that maybe an informal way to put it

RedLikeStrawberries: as official second-in-command of team JNPR, the by-laws also allow me to call on you all in times of great emergency, and I’d say this is one of them! what do you say, **@Queen of the Castle** , **@Ren-sensei?**

Queen of the Castle: I’m in!

Ren-sensei: This is fine with me, but what about Jaune and Pyrrha?

RedLikeStrawberries: That’s why my trusted second-in-command, Blake Belladonna, is handling right now!

RedLikeStrawberries: That’s our plan for tonight! You may spend the rest of the day as you wish!

RedLikeStrawberries: Team Leader Ruby Rose, signing off!

\---0---

The plan was simple.

Three objectives: one, get team RWBY and JNPR together, hopefully to air out whatever lingering drama the two teams had (Ruby and Blake talked about it, and Blake agreed that she needed to open up about her past to the rest of their sister team as well); and two, discuss what to do about the viral video, and if there was any ulterior motive they could discern from the act. Ruby was fairly confident that the reasoning was benign, that whoever allowed the video to upload merely wanted to galvanize the Kingdom over something as innocuous as a silly school dance video that just so happened to involve an international celebrity, but other perspectives were just as valid and needed to be heard. And third, finally: to have some dust-damned _fun_ around here.

Ruby looked around their room, which had just undergone some hasty cleaning from the scythe-wielding huntress. Yang and Weiss, at least, agreed immediately to the impromptu sleepver plans, and judging from Blake’s comments, she had successfully convinced Pyrrha to delay the release of the new volume for a bit so that the Invincible Girl could unwind, so _hopefully_ she was in a better mood by tonight.

 _This is a good idea!_ Ruby reassured to herself because this was the perfect opportunity for a fresh, new start. Maybe Jaune could apologize to Weiss for being… Jaune for the past month! Maybe Blake could finally apologize to everyone, formally, for not being very communicative lately! Maybe she could apologize to team JNPR for not being a very good friend lately!

(Maybe she could clear away all this anxiety clogging her chest!)

Ruby looked at the box of chocolates in her hand. It took a lot of convincing from Blake to agree to this trade, and Ruby was sure that the favor she owed Blake was going to be hard to pay back, but it was worth it. Pyrrha, as it turns out, had a major sweet tooth, something Ruby got out from Blake, and the peace offering in her hand was the best way to pacify the Invincible Girl. Ruby still wasn’t _sure_ if Pyrrha was mad at her or if she was overthinking things, but nevertheless, Ruby wanted to apologize. Not just for Pyrrha’s sake, but for her own. A little bit of desk organization for the heart. Ruby wasn’t very good at that, but if Blake could learn how to, even in… difficult circumstances, then maybe she ought to give it a go. It was much better to lay things out in the open, after all.

Ruby heard the knock on the door, the telltale rhythm signaling that it was Pyrrha. Only someone like Pyrrha would knock with such focused regularity, each knock measured to the second. It was definitely something Pyrrha had practiced rigorously in her private time.

 _Now or never._ Ruby took a deep breath.

She opened the door to her dorm room, putting on her brightest, most mischievous smile. It had been quite a while since she had pulled it out.

“Hey, Pyrrha!” Ruby greeted, her voice finding an energy and passion she had thought was lost to the fallout of the Breach. “Want some chocolate?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize profusely to Blacksun and Iceberg shippers. Your ships are in another castle!
> 
> I might take a few days off to work on two different oneshots (blame the RWBY Nook writing discord for putting these gremlins in my head), but I'll mention them here. They're both canon™ to this universe!
> 
> \- Meet the Parents, a Cardin, Neo, and Roman story, based on the prompt of, well, meeting the parents. (That's right, I'm still on a Cardin & Neo kick. I am helplessly addicted to crack!)  
> \- Team NWBY (Newbie), in which Ruby gets a minor injury and can't participate in missions for a week, so she nominates Nora as temporary leader of the team. Hilarity ensues! Lots of comedy, some drama about mortality, Nora being team mom! 
> 
> In the meantime, the rest of this and the third arc are remarkably freeform, and besides setting up or continuing a couple of arc-long plot arcs and focusing on a specific character every day of the week, I don't really have a set schedule of who to write for next (except for Nora - Nora's always going to be a Thursday chapter) so if you have any specific combinations of characters you want to see, or a specific character you absolutely need to read me write about for the next chapter, let me know! If you really, really want to read about Blake's Harem, or the boys go shopping for feminine products, or Yang and Ren meditating while shitposting in chat, then tell me! I will do my best to integrate as many dumb headcanons and character interactions from my readers! Leave a review, shoot me a message, whatever! It's easy to find me on discord!


	10. Volume 2.25 (Wednesday): this is why you’ll always be :dog:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t ask me how, but I managed to write like two long oneshots last week. I must be insane. Check them out and tell me what you think! One’s a Cardin/Neo story guest-starring Roman Torchwick set in V1-V2 territory, and the other is a fic where Nora temporarily takes leadership of WBY and is technically set in Arc 3 of this fic (but no major spoilers for what happens here). I’ll be doing more side-stories like this in the future that don’t fit the group chat format!
> 
> The Achieve-Men thing is an excuse to talk about a recent superhero film, don’t think too hard about it. Anyway, let’s go!

_Welcome to **The Achieve-Men Cinematic Universe**!_

Sunspot: ok so hear me out

Sunspot: so the movie’s kind of a mess, but now that it’s under SDC management they’ll at least have a tighter editor, way better budget, and more leeway to add the cooler characters from the comics

Cannonball: yang thats super optimistic of you

Magik: I agree with Ruby. While Weiss is our friend, even she would agree that SDC Studios would focus more on maximizing profit with inter-movie crossovers and a uniform aesthetic over all the upcoming films as opposed to each film having its own unique vision and appeal.

Cannonball: yeah and im sure the cgi will be neat but i don’t wanna see a repeat of x-ray and vav: endgame you know?

Dani Moonstar: whats wrong w x&v: endgame??? i loved that one!

Magik: Jaune, you must admit that the movie relied more on fanservice and over twenty movies’ worth of build-up to eliciting anything emotional from its audience. As a standalone movie it is not very rewarding to watch.

Dani Moonstar: who goes into a movie explicitly billed as the finale to over ten years of movie set-up and decides “yes, this will be my first X-Ray and Vav movie”???

Sunspot: VB didnt you try to ask Weiss out once to watch an X-Ray and Vav movie?

Cannonball: oh yeah, the one with spruce willis! that was a fun watch at least

Dani Moonstar: at least you enjoyed it, ruby. plus you were the one who told me to ask her out, yang!

Sunspot: ok my bad, so weiss _wasn’t_ interested in a movie date. you still asked her to watch a superhero flick over, iunno, _Parasite Grimm_ or sth! that won a lot of awards! maybe weiss-cream would have jumped at the chance to watch something w rave reviews and critics gushing over it!

Dani Moonstar: oh no i learned my lesson. not going after weiss anymore. nope!

Dani Moonstar: also _parasite grimm_ is a south mistralian film, those come with subtitles and theyre not for everyone

Magik: “Once you overcome the 1-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.”

Sunspot: ooh cool quote ren, where’d you get that

Magik: …take a wild guess, Yang.

\---0---

Yang was not fond of guessing games. More specifically, she was not fond of unanswered questions, of asking ‘why’ and not getting a response from the adults around her, forcing her to fill in the blanks. Yang never understood why she was obsessed with _why_ until the day she hitched a sleeping Ruby on the back of a wagon and dragged it behind her for a few hours, enduring cuts and bruises from the perilous journey towards a clue that may or may not have answered her questions. It was at that point, when she stared Grimm in the eye and her only regret was that she involved her sister in this mad chase for knowledge, that she did not fear her own death but rather feared that her questions would remain unanswered, that Yang understood such a fundamental part of herself. If their uncle hadn’t intervened – what would she have done?

Yang did not want to guess – she wanted to _know_. To make _sense_ of things.

Why did Yang’s birth mother leave their family? Why did Summer Rose disappear? Why was Yang left alone to pick up the falling pieces of her family, her father who had shut down from losing all the people he had ever loved and her sister who barely understood the concept of loss? Why did bad things happen to good people?

They were questions that had nagged Yang at the back of her mind ever since she could ask _why_. And so, once she was old enough for her own motorcycle and explore the world, she did – seeking out any sliver of information on her birth mother, any crumb of knowledge, regardless of where she ended up finding herself. Sure, the seedy bars and clubs weren’t exactly her _thing_ , even if she did her best to fit in and wrangle as much information as she could, but she pressed onward, even if the information was too hot or too cold for her liking. Unfortunately, she never found the information she needed to be _just right_.

She supposed that a major part of her hair-trigger temper could be attributed to this impatience with a lack of information. (Or, at least, anger that was not caused by anyone damaging her precious locks.) Despite searching for information for nearly two years, she had not found anything concrete about her birth mother, and she had all but resigned herself to never finding out the truth, keenly aware that if she pushed herself too much that she risked letting Ruby lose someone _again_. And as much as Yang wanted to pursue her own life, Ruby’s needs came first – so she ignored her dissatisfaction over her lack of knowledge and focused on raising her baby sister as best she could. Perhaps that was why her semblance allowed her to bottle up all her pain and return it twofold. Truly, a metaphor for her personality. Blake would have been _so_ proud at Yang’s self-introspection.

Speaking of self-introspection, Yang wasn’t sure if this was a good time to be navel-gazing. She was currently alone in the RWBY dorms, having nothing to do ever since they were gently “encouraged” by Ozpin to take a week off from missions and classes since the events of the Breach. Truthfully, most of the classes were put on hold anyway, as a good third of the students had already left for their missions and the rest were either helping the teachers clean up the mess in the city or clearing out Grimm still lingering in the underground tunnels underneath the city. There were outliers, of course (Professor Port insisted that students could not afford to miss out on Grimm Studies, for one, much to the consternation of the students who were left on campus) but for the most part, Beacon was a quieter, calmer place, and everyone else from their teams was either exploring the campus, looking for something to do (Nora and Jaune), dog-walking Zwei, as per the RWBY/JNPR accords detailing Zwei custody (Weiss and Ren), or doing weapon maintenance (Ruby, Pyrrha and Blake).

(Incidentally, the Zwei Accords, as they came to be known, was an official agreement that turned over one Blake Belladonna’s responsibility for caring for Zwei, as well as Official Zwei Petting Privileges, to team JNPR, in exchange for Blake rendering her services as a writer to one Pyrrha Nikos and an occasional combat practice partner for one Jaune Arc. Not that it stopped Blake from secretly petting Zwei when she thought nobody was looking! It was all carefully organized in a legally binding document that Jaune wrote and Weiss had notarized, with Oobleck as a signatory, since he had vouched for the dog to stay at Beacon in the first place. A story for another time, unfortunately.)

The absence of students didn’t help Yang’s mood much, since at least if there were crowd noise and people then Yang would have been able to ignore the little nagging annoyances in her head. Yang understood that she had been especially moody ever since the events of the Breach, and it took Ruby calling the emergency meeting/sleepover yesterday to put things in perspective. She had been so wrapped up with herself, thinking about her loss to the ice-cream looking shorty with the umbrella and the mystery woman who saved her, that she didn’t realize how badly hers and Weiss’ moods were bringing down team morale between the two teams.

It was oddly cathartic, Yang could admit, telling the two teams what it was that was bothering her ever since the Breach. The two teams had gathered together in RWBY’s dorm and occupied their usual positions: Ren and Nora placed themselves by the bookshelves and the window facing outside the dorms; Yang had taken a position on Blake’s bed next to Ren; Blake was sitting next to the stack of books that held up Yang’s bed, and by her foot Pyrrha had placed herself; Jaune and Weiss were laid out on the floor between the two bunk beds; and Ruby sitting on Weiss’ bed. Yang could only chuckle at the memory: she had expected Weiss and Jaune to be awkward, considering just how _badly_ things seemed to go during the dance, but the two were squabbling over chips, _again_ , and Pyrrha was doing her best to maintain the peace. Blake’s mood had improved considerably, most likely after their role at stopping the White Fang’s plans settled in, and Yang had heard that she and Pyrrha had managed to finish something particularly pressing that was causing tension between the two of them. (Much, much later, when Yang finally managed to read the fruits of Blake and Pyrrha’s efforts, she could only laugh. _This_ was making Pyrrha cranky all day?!) Nora was as chipper as always, and while Yang was worried that Ren would be more glum, considering Ren was apparently looking forward to their little sheriff mission until Jaune changed it to help RWBY, the taciturn boy betrayed no apparent annoyance at the girls. Instead, he was chuckling at the argument between Weiss and Jaune, which had devolved into name-calling and teasing (Yang had never heard Weiss repeat the word dunce so much in one minute.)

Yang recalled the sleepover with a clarity that she wished she had when she was fighting the ice-cream shorty on the train: how Ruby apologized for all her mistakes in the past month, how Blake talked a little about her… mentor (Blake was, as usual, evasive on the subject, and nobody wanted to probe further) and her past and why she had felt so compelled to stop the White Fang, how Weiss felt guilty for being, well, so much more Weiss than normal… and in return, when JNPR explained that Jaune was awkward around everyone because, well, he was still terrified of offending Weiss, and Pyrrha was cranky because she was behind her self-imposed deadline for a fanfic update, not because of some perceived slight, Ruby’s face was _priceless._ It was as if there was so much tension in the air because people made silly assumptions about what the others were thinking, instead of talking things out!

When it was finally Yang’s turn to talk, she could admit that it was a load off her chest. Frankly, Yang was beaten down like a _chump_ during the train fight. The little shorty had toyed with her, and Yang was unable to land even one single hit on the little girl, who ducked and weaved and dodged each of Yang’s crushing blows and used that umbrella to, Yang suspected, annoy her more than deal actual damage. Even when she had activated her semblance, it did little to help when _none of her punches landed on the little ice-cream girl_. Frankly, the fact that she wasn’t _dead_ was more a testament to the girl’s cruelty (Neo, Yang had to correct herself, her name was _Neo_ ) and her tendency to play with her food, so to speak.

A hush fell over everyone in the room when Yang began to talk about the mysterious woman in the red-and-black Mistralian garb and the dust-blade ōdachi. Yang knew that look of fear on everyone’s face – _Yang could have died_ – but frankly, to Yang, what gnawed at her was that she had no idea who the person was or _why_ they would save her. _If_ Yang was to die, she wanted to at least know _why_.

(She could not admit to everyone that, sometimes, she would dream of conversing with the mysterious black-haired woman, and whenever they did, the woman would reveal a face that resembled Yang’s so much.)

After everything was over, and the two teams had had the chance to just _vent_ , Yang genuinely felt like they had made steps into fixing whatever bonds were frayed by the events of the Breach. For Yang, she supposed that it was because they weren’t _guessing_ at each other’s intentions anymore, and that the new information they each brought to the table made everyone feel more secure. While the Breach had left a lot of unanswered questions, it at least felt like the _end_ of things. The White Fang were presumably gone from Vale, Roman Torchwick was behind bars, and there no looming threats over Vale. While Monday was a relatively somber affair for everyone, Yang felt that things could only get better from there… at least, until they moved to the next agenda on the sleepover: the JNPR dance video...

\---0---

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW**!_

Cereal Girl: As I said, I’m still not sure I’m ready to launch my channel.

Cereal Girl: My video editing skills… are still not up to par.

Big Kitty Goth GF: maybe to you, but the rest of us aren’t as much of a perfectionist pyr

Big Kitty Goth GF: except for maybe weiss

Big Kitty Goth GF: no offense weiss

Snow Angel: None… taken? I think?

RedLikeStrawberries: aw but you’d be a hit in no time

Cereal Girl: I don’t plan on revealing my identity to the viewers, Ruby! I want to gain views and subscribers the honest way!

Big Kitty Goth GF: “the honest way”, she says, as if she didn’t earn her fame by defeating all that stood in her way…

Cereal Girl: This and that are different, Blake!

Cereal Girl: Besides, Nora said she wanted to help me launch the channel, so we’re still trying to figure out what our content would be in the first place.

Queen of the Castle: I say daily ten-minute videos on different workout forms, and a weekly vlog from me and you!

Snow Angel: “You and I.”

SunnyLittleDragon: you need medicine for that cold, weissy?

SunnyLittleDragon: ill go get the whole milk

Snow Angel: _you know exactly what I meant yang_

Cereal Girl: Well, _I_ think that uploading videos daily will compromise the quality of our uploads. We should be focusing on high-quality content, not… clout-chasing.

Queen of the Castle: Pyrrha, we can do that once we build up our subscriber base! The DusTube algorithm is unforgiving, you know!

Cereal Girl: …and this is part of why we still can’t launch the channel.

SunnyLittleDragon: big oof

Big Kitty Goth GF: :crying_cat_face:

RedLikeStrawberries: :weaponizedpouting:

Vomit Boy: anw, how abt the others? didnt you all have plans to upload at least a few videos or something too?

Big Kitty Goth GF: ren n i r doing the beauty n health vlog

Cereal Girl: I thought you didn’t want to do it, Blake? Something about being annoyed at your supposed cameraman.

Big Kitty Goth GF: …once sun gets an idea into his head, it’s very hard to convince him to stop. he usually _means_ well, but…

RedLikeStrawberries: aw, ill give him a talking to if he starts being too pushy. besides, ren’s with you!

Ren-sensei: I will make sure to reign him in, yes. Jaune will help, too.

Vomit Boy: we've hung out with and neptune a bit, maybe he’ll listen to us more

Big Kitty Goth GF: …thanks, guys.

Ren-sensei: No problem.

Ren-sensei: Personally, I am just looking forward to sharing the joy of my health drinks with people all over Remnant. :slight_smile:

RedLikeStrawberries: lets hope so, since the goal is to distract people from the dance video. pyrrha, how’s your publicist?

Cereal Girl: Still dealing with all the new offers for promotions, sadly. Apparently, I’m being scouted for this new ad with some _very_ distasteful dancing involved… and they’re being very pushy.

Queen of the Castle: Wait, Ren, what kind of health drinks are we talking about? You mean the ones that look like slime that came out of a lakebed?

Ren-sensei: Algae contains numerous spectacular properties…

Big Kitty Goth GF: so yeah. ren’s handling the health and skincare side, ill be doing the make-up and clothes reviews

Snow Angel: Blake, not to rain on your parade, but I thought you didn’t want to do the videos in the first place because you wanted to keep your identity private.

Big Kitty Goth GF: I thought about it and figured, hey, there’s no harm

Big Kitty Goth GF: My being a student in Beacon is already a matter of public record, but I doubt anyone in the Vale chapter recognizes me.

Big Kitty Goth GF: besides, the nature of the Fang means people dont exactly have time watching DusTube videos. Sienna Khan even decreed that it was a detriment to the Cause

Vomit Boy: sienna khan?

Big Kitty Goth GF: oh for

Big Kitty Goth GF: jaune i told you and pyr all about this already

Cereal Girl: Jaune, Sienna Khan is the current High Leader of the White Fang.

Ren-sensei: She _has_ been on the news lately as well, Jaune.

Vomit Boy: wait, that’s her?! i thought she was like, a big deal political DusTuber from back in the day

Vomit Boy: up until like, that last ban she got on her channel for all the hate speech.

Big Kitty Goth GF: well, at least you know _something_ about her

Big Kitty Goth GF: this is why you’ll always be :dog:

RedLikeStrawberries: hey! no bullying my BF blake

RedLikeStrawberries: only im allowed to do that

Vomit Boy: hey!

Ren-sensei: Ruby, I _did_ warn you to be more mindful of your acronyms, lest people misunderstand what you mean

RedLikeStrawberries: you got it, GF!

RedLikeStrawberries: anyway, me and Yang agreed to set up that dance channel since I already have a head start with the onesie video

RedLikeStraberries: thx for the help on that btw, ren

Ren-sensei: It is no problem, Ruby.

RedLikeStrawberries: well, watch out, cuz i’m not losing our bet jaune!

Vomit Boy: thats cool and all, ruby, but unfortunately ive got an ace up my sleeve

Big Kitty Goth GF: doesn’t surprise me you can hide all sorts of crap in the sleeves of that baggy hoodie for yours

Vomit Boy: … _anyway,_ im proud to formally state that

Vomit Boy: as of today, _Arc-en-Ciel_ is announcing the addition of a new member to the ASMR family:

Vomit Boy: ­­ _white_angel_of_snow!!!_ :partying_face:

Snow Angel: Ahem.

Snow Angel: I hope you mean you are ready to announce the formation of _White Knight Productions_ , with its two star recruits _white_angel_of_snow_ and _Arc-en-Ciel_

Vomit Boy: ofc, how can i forget that

Snow Angel: Also, you should be thankful I am willing to lend you my considerable wealth and talents to your… admittedly impressive efforts.

Snow Angel: Even if you _are_ an indie project with very little polish.

Vomit Boy: i thought you liked my videos!

Snow Angel: Yes, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be improved!

Snow Angel: A better mic and video quality, for starters! And maybe a better wardrobe! For your viewers, obviously!

Vomit Boy: coco from cfvy says my clothes look comfy!

RedLikeStrawberries: jaune she also wants to buy all your hoodies so she can burn like your entire wardrobe and force you to buy better clothes

Snow Angel: Besides, not to toot my own horn, but I already have a following as an Atlesian pop star and cultural icon.

Snow Angel: Our little partnership is sure to distract the public from your team’s little viral video!

Big Kitty Goth GF: weiss when did you find out jaune was running the channel???

Cereal Girl: I’m just glad we don’t have to hide it anymore. Right, _Blake_?

Queen of the Castle: We were supposed to be hiding it? I thought Weissy was just oblivious.

Snow Angel: All of you are just _wonderful_ friends, I would like to say. :pout:

SunnyLittleDragon: wait

SunnyLittleDragon: WAIT

SunnyLittleDragon: since when are you two buddy-buddy?

Snow Angel: Well,

Snow Angel: Wouldn’t _you_ like to know, Yang?

\---0---

Yang wanted to know a lot of things, of course. So much of her life was centered around either seeking freedom, adventure, knowledge, or all three. But Yang could admit, sometimes, that it felt like obtaining knowledge was more difficult than it was finding the freedom and adventure she craved out of life. Once she was old enough, she could go out with her beloved Bumblebee and explore the little world of Patch, even Vale if she were feeling confident enough. She was free to do as she wished as long as she proved that she was strong enough to defend herself, once her father had recovered from his malaise and Ruby had grown older. Being a Huntress lined up with both goals, and the skills she developed to achieve said goals, so it made sense for her to want to be one.

But it often seemed like being a Huntress didn’t satisfy her need for knowledge, simply because she didn’t know if she was happy with all the knowledge she gained. If anything, the questions that were aimed at her and the answers she found by asking often felt like answers she _didn’t_ want to hear or admit. When Oobleck interrogated them about their reasons for being a Huntress, back at Mountain Glenn, Yang was able to admit to Blake and Weiss that she didn’t _really_ have a goal besides the vague notion of ‘adventure’. Yang could even admit to herself that she envied the rest of her team, because they all had goals and beliefs they had in mind, even if they weren’t sure how to go about it. Ruby wanted to be a hero and protect people. Weiss wanted to take back her family name from the mud that her father had dragged it into. Blake wanted justice and equality for the Faunus, even if she felt she was inadequate to the task and had no concrete steps in mind to do so. But Yang? Yang had nothing, and it was difficult to even admit that. After all, she merely went with the flow.

Yang was staring at the ceiling, listening to the hands of the clock in their dorm room tick away, filling the silence of the room with something resembling movement, another thing Yang envied at the moment. She knew that it was rare for her to be so _inactive_ , to not be _moving_ or doing _something_ , but Oobleck’s interrogation must have caused something in her mind to click, because instead of just ignoring the ennui that had crept up on her like it was some Grimm with the ability to manipulate emotions, Yang began to ask a question instead. _Why_? Why was she so listless? Why was she so troubled when, just yesterday, it felt like she had a purpose, a goal, and everything seemed so right?

The answer she arrived at, like the answer she found when Oobleck was interrogating her, didn’t give her any comfort. _Well, isn’t it obvious? Because there’s nobody around for you to focus on. Like Ruby, or Blake, or any of your friends, like Jaune, or Nora, or Pyrrha… because everyone has a dream they’re chasing, and all you want to do is have fun._ Weiss said that they chose this life, as Huntresses, and that whatever they wanted came in second to their _actual_ job, which was to protect people. She _understood_ it, on an intellectual level, but that didn’t answer the actual question, didn’t it? _Why_? She didn’t want to think about the answers she would find, because it felt like the answer to _that_ was something other people forced on her, not something _she_ wanted for herself. And she was worried that, like almost everything in her life, she was going to prioritize other people’s needs over hers.

But that wasn’t necessarily true, wasn’t it? She still had _one_ thing she did for her own benefit: her search for knowledge. And even that was making her feel increasingly ill at ease, as if she didn’t want to think about what she would find at the end of that journey. What if the answer to _that_ left her unsatisfied too? What if the solution to the puzzle only showed that she was as aimless and purposeless as she feared she was, compared to her friends? Or worse?

That last part shook Yang out of her introspection. Didn’t she warn Blake exactly about this kind of overthinking?

 _I need to stop overthinking things_. She blamed the mystery woman and the dreams that she had been having, and the uncomfortable suggestion that whoever it was under that mask had her face. They were causing her to ask questions, and Yang realized that sometimes, questions were better left unanswered, simply because nobody had access to that information at the moment. Otherwise, one descended to obsession, and Yang refused to allow her need for knowledge to overwhelm her.

So Yang did what she did best and compartmentalize everything away, taking out a scroll and sending a message to someone who she had been meaning to talk to for a while now…

\---0---

_Welcome to **Sunflower**!_

Yang: ren my good buddy my pal my brother from another mother

Yang: we need to talk

Yin: Yang, I honestly doubt we’ll ever fully resolve the King Taijitu argument unless we find King Taijitu we can fight in the wild, and unfortunately Nora took care of the ones that attacked during the Breach

Yang: UGHHH don’t remind me i rly wanted another go at those things and show you up but nooo nora got to all of em first

Yang: but no this isn’t about the grimm hunting bet we have going

Yang: …im still in the lead btw

Yin: I still maintain that the Mountain Glenn mission is cheating, purely because Professor Ozpin was showing clear favoritism in allowing you to go on that Search and Destroy mission. I have half a mind to consult Professor Goodwitch on this matter, honestly.

Yang: oh, _sure_ , when it’s ozpin playing favorites, you gripe and moan, but when glynda’s being nice to JNPR it’s fair

Yin: One is the headmaster of our academy, while the other is at the mercy of his whims and must handle all his paperwork. The comparison is slightly unfair.

Yang: …im worried your team has been spending too much time with glynda lately. blink once if shes forcing you do her paperwork ren!

Yin: Don’t be ridiculous, Yang.

Yin: Professor Goodwitch does not have a habit of forcing unnecessary burdens on her students. One can only hope that Professor Ozpin is the same.

Yang: yeah i don’t see good ol oz doin that

Yang: anyway!

Yang: i need a favor

Yin: …I feel as if you and your sister have very similar strategies to… extracting favors out of someone, Yang.

Yang: o wat

Yang: what did ruby do this time???

Yin: …nothing. What do you need?

Yin: Is this about the dance choreography?

Yin: Because I already agreed to help Ruby, so I am willing to teach you as well.

Yang: wait, really???

Yang: i mean i can already feel my muscles aching but

Yang: once i got used to the pain i started enjoying it more yknow

Yang: so im not totally opposed to it now

Yin: Yang, you _do_ realize how that sounds, right?

Yang: get your mind out of the gutter ren!

Yang: but yeah i think i can live with your instruction now

Yin: I understand completely. When Jaune first suggested this exercise, I despised it with every fiber of my being.

Yang: no way

Yin: Indeed. I felt that my body was simply not cut out for the more…freeform nature of some dances.

Yin: I will admit, I can still be a bit stiff at times, compared to Jaune, but after a while I began to enjoy the act of dancing, as well as choreographing steps.

Yang: im surprised ruby was fine with all this

Yin: Oh, she was very much like you at the start. Nothing but complaints and bellyaching. You two are very much alike.

Yang: we _are_ sisters, you know

Yin: Yes, you two also similar in that you are both extremely stubborn once you put your mind to something.

Yin: It does not surprise me that Jaune and Ruby get along so well, or that Ruby is drawn to Weiss and is determined to be her friend.

Yin: Call it a similarity in their fundamental nature, despite the drastically different domains they inhabit.

Yang: whats with the alliteration

Yin: Nora says I should make more jokes, and I find the art of alliteration amusing.

Yang: …

Yang: look where are you rn

Yin: I am walking back to the dorms. Zwei is tuckered out now and will possibly be docile enough that even Blake may tolerate his presence in your room.

Yang: weiss-cream not with you?

Yin: No, she said she wanted to get some combat practice in.

Yang: okay

Yang: so, here’s what I wanna ask…

\---0---

Spars weren’t uncommon between the two sister teams of RWBY and JNPR. Besides the two teams enjoying their friendly competitions, as evidenced by the _Fifth Great Beacon Cafeteria War_ , their lessons also mandated a willingness to collaborate with people outside of the team structure. Glynda always emphasized to the students the importance of flexibility, of being aware of a wide range of combat tactics and scenarios, and Ruby and Jaune had taken this to heart, trying to devise combat scenarios and spars where members of the two teams would be mixed up, or for one reason or another, have to confront each other on the battlefield.

(Yang wasn’t sure Jaune’s idea of “mind controlling semblance” was sound, considering them nothing more than far-fetched coming book nonsense. Besides, those kinds of semblances would have been abused by unscrupulous powers long before the user even developed their powers enough to be a threat, unless there were secret underground groups in, say, Vacuo, that housed such a powerful Semblance user. But what were the odds? Still, she wasn’t the _experienced comic book fan_ that Jaune was, despite being into superhero flicks, so she couldn’t completely dismiss the idea. At least that was something she shared with Ren, being relatively new to the hobby compared to her sister and her dork best friend. It wasn’t her fault that superhero films were so overwhelmingly positive, despite how the setting could be dark at times!)

It wasn’t a surprise, for example, to find Ruby and Nora sparring, especially after Ruby had just finished tampering with Magnhild, or Blake and Pyrrha exchanging blows in an acrobatic dance of dodge, feint, and strike, although Yang suspected that much of it was actually storyboarding for their… other hobby. It didn’t help that they would sometimes repeat the same sequence of moves with slight variations, as if trying to determine what would look good on paper as opposed to what made sense in a fight. It also didn’t help that they would break out into laughter every few minutes as if they weren’t simulating a fight to the death!

None of those sparring sessions, however, shocked Yang as much as today, when she walked into the training grounds and witnessed Weiss pelting Jaune with icicles from her glyphs, screaming something about mobility practice. And here Yang thought those two would be at odds for longer! Will wonders ever cease?

Yang had to admit that it was nice watching Weiss practice with someone else for once, since the heiress had a bad case of… finding herself poor matchups. Within team RWBY, Weiss generally trailed behind her teammates in one-on-one combat, thanks to some poor combat compatibility: spars with Ruby, at least, generally ended in a draw, since Ruby’s speed far outpaced Weiss, even when using her glyphs, and Weiss’ mastery over her glyphs was insufficient in trapping the red reaper, but by the same token, Ruby had a hard time breaking through the deluge of glyphs Weiss would summon to keep Ruby away from getting into close or medium range. Weiss was more unlucky with her other teammates: Blake’s Shadow allowed her multiple points of entry for attacks that Weiss simply could not keep up with, and even if she tried to use her glyphs to give her a boost of speed, Blake could just tie her up with her bow or trip up her movement, and Yang… well, Yang just punched her way through most of Weiss’ glyphs.

She didn’t fare much better with JNPR either: Pyrrha was, well, Pyrrha, you really didn’t stand a chance against her, but Nora was much like Yang, a human bulldozer who Weiss could only defeat if she expended all her dust in an attempt to prevent Nora from ever getting close to her… if Nora simply didn’t decide to pelt her with her dust grenades, instead. So it was more of a toss-up, and you expended far too many resources to secure a win, something that none of them wanted to use up on a spar.

Which was why it was nice to see Weiss sparring with Jaune, simply because for once, Weiss was in a dominant spot, and considering the huge loss she suffered the other day, it was a good morale boost for the heiress. Plus, Jaune always benefited from having multiple combat partners, considering his lack of experience. A real win-win situation, at least in Yang’s mind!

Still, Yang had left someone out of this little evaluation for a reason, and as Ren walked up to her, StormFlower in hand and wearing his combat clothes as opposed to the school uniform, Yang could only grin at her luck. Because Lie Ren was, among their friend group, notoriously reticent to engaging in spars.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Sunflower**!_

Yang: I know you aren’t fond of the whole sparring thing, weiss told me you keep turning down her requests and nora tells us you’d rather meditate or practice on your own

Yang: so, here’s my favor: let’s spar!

Yin: Is there any specific reason for this?

Yang: a lady has to keep a few secrets to herself, _right_? :smirk:

Yang: besides, I _know_ you’re chomping at the bits to get back at me.

Yang: don’t think i didn’t notice the little barbs you’ve been throwing at me the past few weeks!

Yin: I will admit, I am still a little sore that I lost to you twice

Yin: Even if the engagements weren’t exactly serious.

Yang: oh ho, there’s that competitive streak you keep trying to hide

Yin: I suppose you have seen through me – I _am_ interested in a rematch. But to make this more interesting, why not add a wager?

Yang: hm?

Yin: Just as you have observed that I have a slight… competitive streak I prefer to keep hidden, I too have noticed a certain habit of yours. An inclination towards satisfying one’s curiosity, shall we say.

Yin: I propose a trade of information. A favor for another a favor.

Yin: Whoever wins our little sparring session is allowed to ask the other a question that they must answer to the best of their ability.

Yang: oh, ren, if you just wanted to ask about my three sizes–

Yin: I am not uncouth enough to ask that of a friend, Yang.

Yang: geez that was a joke

Yin: Besides, if I asked, I’m sure Nora would give me the details.

Yang: wait was that another joke?!

Yin: Who knows?

Yang: …

Yin: In any case, I propose this because of a little Mistralian fairy tale that was taught to us as children.

Yin: In the fairy tale, there is a being of great knowledge who holds knowledge of everything in the world. However, she safeguards this knowledge, and only allows those who pass her trials the privilege of knowing.

Yin: “For knowledge must not be given freely. It is only through trials and tribulations that one proves worthy.”

Yin: It is a story about the dangers and responsibilities of obtaining knowledge without being prepared to receive it. “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” after all.

Yang: Wow, Ren, you sure are dropping a lot of koans today.

Yin: They are _not_ koans, Yang. Try not to fall into the trap that those dust-damned meebs fall into and assume all profound quotes are koans.

Yin: I feel that this is a good object lesson for both of us, and it would be remiss to not help a friend learn more about herself.

Yang: I don’t get the mumbo jumbo, but yknow what

Yang: you’re on, ren!

\---0---

Yang could feel the eyes of Weiss and Jaune, who had concluded their own training session to watch Ren agree to a spar outside of combat class. Weiss, unsurprisingly, didn’t have a single scratch on her, no visible damage to her aura, although there were beads of sweat running down her face that she was wiping off with her towel and she was panting in exertion, purely because of how much she had to just use her glyphs to damage Jaune over and over again. One quick glance at the dust vials in Myrtenaster’s revolver chamber revealed that they were half empty, which to Weiss must have been mortifying. She used that much dust to make Jaune stay down for good?!

Jaune, meanwhile, was sitting on the floor next to Weiss, cross-legged, heaving in exertion as his aura slowly recharged. While by no means an expert in combat at this point, Jaune at least had his aura going for him, and while he never landed a hit on Weiss, instead spending the majority of the spar either dodging, ducking, or weaving through a hail of ice or fire, or blocking stray hits with his shield. In a tournament setting, one could say he had a viable, if boring strategy of forcing draws or victories through aura depletion.

He was exchanging a few words with Weiss, even as they observed Yang and Ren face off in the middle of the combat arena, most likely because Jaune asking Weiss for pointers. Jaune _always_ insisted on his sparring partners tell him what he did wrong, because, as Pyrrha once pointed out to Yang, Jaune was the type of person who did better once he understood the logic and the theory behind combat maneuvers. Unlike fighters like Yang and Pyrrha, who followed the instincts of their body, someone like Jaune excelled when he could plan and think ahead on the field, instead of relying on combat instincts that he never got the chance to develop.

(Come to think of it, Yang realized, much, much later, Weiss was very much the same. She excelled in fights where she could plan and arrange the battlefield to her liking and did horribly if she was forced to react defensively.)

But she needed to focus on the opponent in front of her. Yang turned to face Ren, who merely nodded at her, signaling that he was ready when she was.

Contrary to what people asserted, Yang wasn’t a raging bull in combat, content to just charge in at the slightest provocation. She had the _tendency_ to, sure, especially when a fight dragged on, but she was still an experienced fighter who understood both the strength and limits of her body and semblance, as well as the pros and cons of wielding a weapon like Ember Celica in combat. Against Grimm, Yang could afford to play around more – Grimm weren’t the types of opponents who would dodge a fully charged Burn-enhanced punch from Yang, unless Yang _really_ telegraphed her attack. But against humans, who had the advantage of analyzing her movement, Yang had to be _smarter_ , to fight more tactically, a lesson that Taiyang Xiao Long did his best to teach to his sunny little dragon.

Yang was, however, not the best of students.

_One shot to where Ren is standing, another to the right, because Ren favors his right side…_

Yang cocked her gauntlets and let loose, shooting one of her explosive rounds with her left arm, aiming towards Ren. She immediately drew back her left arm, reloading that gauntlet, and punched again with her right, the second dust round aimed at where she predicted the silent member of JNPR would dodge to. Her body, reacting to the instinctual, and almost habitual action, then began to move by itself, her legs propelling her towards where Ren was initially standing, boosted by an explosion that emanated from her left arm.

It was standard Yang tactics, locking the opponent in a pincer and limiting their options. The first shot was always a feint, meant to gauge the opponent’s dodging habits, and the second explosive dust hit was meant to either catch the opponent or herd them into a position that was optimal for Yang to land a finishing blow with. Either they were stunned by the second shot, or, like Yang predicted would happen here, force their bodies to stop mid-momentum, trapping them in place as Yang leaped into the air, bringing her rear leg forward to feign a kick, before snapping her leg back and throwing a right cross instead, using the momentum of the leap into the air to add more power to her punch.

_Got him…!_

Yang only noticed, a second too late, her miscalculation, as Ren cartwheeled backwards instead of dodging to the right, landing on his knees and aiming StormFlower’s guns at Yang’s leaping, defenseless forming, unleashing a hail of dust bullets at the brawler. Yang immediately covered her front with her arms, absorbing the hail of bullets and allowing her Aura to flare up, reducing the pain from excruciating to manageable. As the bullets glanced against the shield of her soul, she could feel her semblance burning away at her body, increasing in warmth and power, and Yang felt the tips of her hair heat up in response to the rain of bullets.

_Do a forward roll as I land, boost myself with my gaunlets as I get up, get Ren in a grapple hold…_

As Yang landed on the floor, dislodging a bit of the stone of the combat arena with how hard she crushed them with her feet, she lurched forward, rolling herself into a ball and using the momentum to close the gap between her and her opponent. Ren’s dust bullets finally ran out, Yang noticed from the corner of her eye, and he unloaded his ammo and moved to reload. _This is my opportunity!_ Yang almost screamed in her head.

Her lilac eyes flared red.

As she emerged from her roll, she extended her arms behind her, and with a slight push and a scream, ejected her dust shells, using the explosive force to propel herself forward, aiming to collide against Ren’s body and force him on the ground. Yang was planning on mounting Ren and just unleashing a rain of punches on Ren, since the boy had some of the _worst_ stamina in their teams and was rather vulnerable to punches to the face. A common weakness, granted, but Ren was especially vulnerable to it. Heck, Yang had beaten him twice thanks to it!

Instead of Ren’s body, however, Yang collided with Ren’s knee. Ren raised his right knee forward, blocking Yang’s body and hurting her with the force of her own momentum. Yang felt her body lurch, pausing in mid-air for a second before Ren brought his left elbow down on Yang’s back and slammed her down on the floor with a thud. As she crumpled on the floor, struggling to get to a stable base again, Ren leapt into the air and rotated, aiming to land his leg on Yang’s prone form.

Her accumulated power faded, and Yang’s eyes turned lilac again, her mind free of the haze of power that overwhelmed her, and with the instinct of someone who had been in many fights, faced the incoming leg drop and blocked it with her arms. Ren let out a yelp and leapt away as Yang did a kip up to get back on her feet.

_Force a reset, figure out a new attack pattern…_

Yang raised her arms again, adopting a common boxer’s stance, and gauged Ren’s own stance. She could feel the sweat pouring down her body, the accumulation of heat from her semblance and her adrenaline pumping freely throughout her body, and she looked inside her to gauge her aura. Ren, while obviously exhausted as well, did not suffer as badly on the Aura front, while she had lost a lot of Aura absorbing StormFlower’s bullets and attempting to use her semblance, only for her the power accumulated from her semblance to go to waste. Ren had managed to land a couple of solid hits on her as well, which didn’t bode well for her. If this were a combat spar, then maybe Glynda would have stepped in already…

…which was why when Ren gave her a rare smirk, as if to imply that he knew that he was winning, Yang threw all caution to the wind.

 _Oh, screw it, let’s just_ go…!

\---0---

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW**!_

_Vomit Boy uploaded a video to the chat!_

Vomit Boy: EXTRA EXTRA

Vomit Boy: READ ALL ABOUT IT

Vomit Boy: RESIDENT SUNDRAGON OF BEACON YANG XIAO LONG LOSES TO UNASSUMING MYSTERY CHALLENGER

SunnyLittleDragon: dsafdfadsfadsgasfgasffads

SunnyLittleDragon: _jaune delete that video or else_

Ren-sensei: Jaune, try not to antagonize Yang too much.

Ren-sensei: I reserve the rights to antognize her myself. :smirk:

Queen of the Castle: Oooh, I love it when Ren gets sassy!

Snow Angel: You must admit, it is funny watching Ren run circles around Yang for once.

Snow Angel: Plus, watching Yang lose it while Ren just kept plinking away at her Aura with a barrage of kicks and blows from StormFlower made my day.

Ren-sensei: I did notice that Yang tended to do poorly versus kick-based fighters.

Snow Angel: I’ll be sure to save this video for a rainy-day yang

SunnyLittleDragon: fdasfdfadsfasfdasfa

_Someone is typing…_

Big Kitty Goth GF: …you know, we could maybe do something with this video.

Queen of the Castle: Oooh, yeah, I think we can do a test run of our uploads with this!

SunnyLittleDragon: what are you gonna do with it??? show off my incompetence for the whole world to see?

Queen of the Castle: No, silly! I was thinking we could show off the spar and throw in fight analysis.

Big Kitty Goth GF: yeah, itll be like pyrrha’s favorite mistralian cartoons, the ones where people on the side commentate on the big fight

Ren-sensei: Dust-damned meebs…

Cereal Girl: I _do_ have experience in such things. I’ve been asked to guest commentate in tournament matches before…

RedLikeStrawberries: that’s a _great_ idea, you guys! itll make for a great first upload for the RWBY channel!

Vomit Boy: shouldn’t it be on the JNPR channel, since ren won???

Vomit Boy: btw, ren, great job, you kicked yang’s ass!

_Ren-sensei nods at Vomit Boy!_

Ren-sensei: Why, thank you, Jaune. Your compliments are very nice to hear.

SunnyLittleDragon: **_VB IM GONNA KICK YOUR ASS IF YOU DON’T STFU_**

\---0---

(To Yang’s horror, the video immediately grew viral within days of release, thanks to the combat commentary provided by a “mysterious” red-haired huntress in a Grimm mask who called herself the Red Huntress, as well as a secretive yet alluring woman with black hair, with a domino mask covering her eyes and a set of cat ears to complete the look, who was calling herself the Midnight Shade. Commentators were eager to point out how _mysterious_ the two were and how _difficult_ it was to guess at their identities.)

\---0---

_Welcome to **Sunflower**!_

Yin: Good spar, Yang. I hope you’re feeling better now?

Yang: i will be. p sure my pride’s the one hurt the most

Yin: If it is any consolation, I needed to rile you up a lot to even secure a win in the first place. If you had landed _one_ blow on me, I’m sure I would have been knocked out instantly.

Yang: is _that_ why you were going out of your way to piss me off lately?

Yin: …a gentleman must have secrets of his own.

Yang: pffft

Yang: still, seriously, that was a good fight. really knocked some sense into me.

Yin: I hope I was helpful in clearing your head of the troubles you have mired yourself in, lately.

Yang: what

Yang: howd you figure somethings been bothering me

Yin: Call it a wild guess, Yang.

Yin: You do not live with Nora for many years and learn how to read the moods of… excitable people.

Yang: was I _that_ obvious?

Yin: Not particularly, no. I was merely more observant of you the past few days.

Yang: oh _ren_ , im flattered, but im nowhere near ready for a relationship just now

Yin: Yes, well, I am afraid I do not have cat ears, so unfortunately, I am not your type.

Yin: Recent data also suggests you may be open to both redheads and oblivious types as well.

Yang: …anything you’re hinting at here, renny boy

Yin: …I will stop there. I suspect I have said something wrong.

_Someone is typing…_

Yang: So… before you ask me your question, I have one thing to say.

Yin: Oh, our wager? Honestly, I didn’t really have any big question in mind.

Yin: That was merely a strategy to keep you off-balance.

Yin: I suspect that it will not work another time, so I hope you forgive me if I refuse to spar with you again.

Yang: _what_

Yin: I simply observed, based on both your reporting and my own notes on your combat ability, that you tend to lose fights when you become narrow-minded and obsessed with achieving a specific goal. In combat, this translates to hyper fixating on achieving on a specific sub-goal as opposed to the overall scope of a fight.

Yin: For example, when sufficiently enraged, you default to using your semblance and, well, punching someone in the face.

Yin: Your tactics are _very_ limited when in this state because you otherwise excel at making split-second cost-effective tactical decisions in combat.

Yang: sure are a lot of fancy words to say I tend to be one-dimensional in combat

Yin: Oh, no, I don’t mean to imply that. If you aren’t allowing your semblance to consume you, your combat tactics are terrifying.

Yin: It is just that, well…

Yin: “When all you have are your fists, every problem starts to look like a face.”

Yang: is that another one of your mistralian koans?

Yin: No. I learned it from you.

Yang: lmao

Yang: man, dad keeps telling me the same thing

Yang: am I _that_ obvious?

Yin: Not really. It took a lot of preparation on my end to throw you off your game. I also took advantage of your… interest in knowledge. That was why I proposed the wager in the first place

Yin: It is not as noticeable, but you are always the one most interested in learning more about all of us and asking questions. You also do not take kindly to people refusing you information.

Yin: you can be… bullheaded. thankfully, it does not happen much besides this specific scenario.

Yang: huh. never thought about it that way.

Yang: ill try to work on that. i can admit, that’s a weakness of mine, but im not really sure how to address it

Yang: but that’s a question for another time. So, what’s your question?

Yin: I’ll try to think of something to ask.

 _Someone is typing_ …

Yang: Ren?

Yin: Yes, Yang.

Yang: ive been thinking…

Yin: A very daring move from you but go ahead.

Yang: oh, ha ha!

Yang: look, ive beaten you twice, right? and you’ve beaten me once.

Yin: Yes?

Yang: so, wouldn’t you say its fair that you owe me two questions, while I owe you one?

Yang: look, i promise it aint anything super personal

Yang: there’s just some nagging questions at the back of my head

Yin: …sure, why not? You did undergo a difficult trial, after all.

Yin: Go ahead and ask your questions while I think of mine.

Yang: alright!

_Someone is typing…_

Yang: So, first question: what’s your haircare routine?

Yin: Um.

Yin: Are you sure you wish to waste your first question on this, Yang?

Yang: dude look i gotta know

Yang: you have like, the nicest hair out of everyone here after Blake

Yin: Thank you…?

Yang: it’s a compliment, ren! _honestly_! what is it with you and jaune and being bad at getting compliments???

Yang: look i just gotta _know_ , ok? the past few days have been brutal, and my poor hair deserves the best treatment possible

Yang: you have no idea how much work i put into my baby, ok?

Yin: I can only imagine.

Yang: but blake’s so _unfair_! she keeps telling me her hair is all natural and she just uses a normal brand of shampoo and conditioner!

Yang: i bet its like a faunus thing too! wait, is that racist? uh, speciest?

Yin: You’ll have to ask Blake for that, Yang.

Yin: But sure. I can give you my haircare routine. Please keep in mind that a lot of these are recommendations from Nora…

_Yin uploaded a file to the chat!_

\---0---

As Yang and Ren continued to chat, late in the afternoon, Yang found herself sprawled out on her bed, nursing her aching muscles and bruised ego from her defeat to Ren, while Weiss was on her bed, filing her nails and listening to another one of Jaune’s ASMR videos (Yang could admit that they _were_ relaxing, but it was incredibly weird to chill out to Vomit Boy’s voice, of all people. Not that there was anything wrong with Vomit Boy!) The trio of Ruby, Pyrrha, and Nora were nowhere to be found, still, and Yang was beginning to wonder if they had gotten into some other dumb shenanigans, but decided it was best not to think about it. If there _was_ something going on, they’d be updated via the group chat anyway.

Even if Weiss was absorbed with her own things, Yang was thankful for her company – it was much better than stewing in her own thoughts, obsessing over things she had no control over. She still wasn’t sure how to feel about herself, about the mystery woman who had rescued her, the nagging questions that remained unanswered at the back of her head, and Yang was beginning to wonder if she was _ever_ going to find answers that would satisfy her – her life lately, it seemed, was a series of frustrations. No wonder that ice cream chick annoyed her so much, since all she did was run away and not fight her seriously, and each confrontation ended anticlimactically! It was like she existed purely to frustrate Yang’s desire for a clean, orderly resolution to this whole mess, leaving only loose ends and lingering questions.

Still, Yang felt, it was easier to deal with the nagging questions when there were people around her that she could focus on, instead. She had to admit that a part of her was worried because she used to dedicate all her energy on Ruby, leaving her no energy to worry over her frustrations, and now that Ruby was maturing faster and faster that Yang felt Ruby was headed far, far away from her and her guidance, but that didn’t matter, because Ruby wasn’t there _yet_. And now she had a whole mess of friends that she _trusted_ , not the fair-weather kind she had made back in Signal.

So instead of worrying about the mysterious woman causing her all sorts of anxiety and leaving her with questions, Yang decided to focus on what was in front of her. For now, that was enough. It may have been incredibly optimistic of her, but hey, that was why she liked superhero movies.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Sunflower**!_

Yin: You go first, Yang.

Yang: alright

Yang: i know you train just as hard as any of us. your driven to improve and be stronger, our spar today shows that. you spend a lot of time trying to move past your limits. thats what the meditation and stuff is for, right?

Yin: Yes.

Yin: The offer still stands, by the way. You’re welcome to join my team in learning meditation and relaxation techniques. Blake participates as well.

Yin: I have a few health drink recipes I’d like to offer to you. Very good for the skin and the hair.

Yang: sure, maybe in the future

Yang: anw, here’s my question: how come avoid sparring with the rest, and yet you decided to humor me today?

Yin: Technically, those are two questions, but I applaud you for managing to sneak two questions in one.

Yin: But, to answer your question, perhaps I’ll respond with my own question as well.

Yang: whaaat

Yang: that’s cheating

Yin: Perhaps. Or perhaps I’m offering you knowledge, just in a different form.

Yin: Yang, why are you so eager for knowledge, and yet so afraid of the answers you may find?

Yin: You could have asked your second question immediately, but you chose to waste one question on my hair products.

_Someone is typing…_

Yang: …because I’m worried that the answers I find at the end won’t be satisfying. That I’m not strong enough to confront the knowledge I’ve been looking for all my life, or that my search will overwhelm me and cause me to do something I’ll regret eventually.

Yin: Well, there you have it then. That should answer your question.

Yang: …that doesn’t answer anything, Ren!

Yin: Apologies, Yang. “For knowledge must not be given freely.”

Yang: oh, screw you, Ren!

Yin: If you want to get more answers out of me, you’ll have to beat me in a spar.

Yin: Unfortunately, _my_ pride and curiosity is sated, and I don’t plan. I know I have a fighting chance of defeating you as you are right now.

Yang: wait! what the heck does that mean, as i am now???

\---0---

After all, bit by bit, Yang was improving. There was no need to rush things. Today was just one of those days.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Solarflare**!_

Sun Wukong: Yang! My buddy! My pal! I need a really, really big favor from ya!

Sun Wukong: Oh yeah, I also heard from Ruby about you losing to someone in a spar! Sorry to hear about that!

Yang Xiao Long: …yes, sun, what is it

Sun Wukong: So you know how Blake’s been busy ever since the dance, right?

Yang Xiao Long: yeah?

Sun Wukong: she wont even hang out w me! ive been texting her nonstop ever since the Breach! im worried for her!

Yang Xiao Long: i mean, first things first, im p sure shes annoyed you keep texting her

Sun Wukong: Duly noted!

Yang Xiao Long: second of all, are you sure you should be asking _me_ for help on how to, ahem, court blake?

Sun Wukong: Aw man, you know it isn’t like that! I’m, like, not trying to sweet-talk her or anything!

Yang Xiao Long: sun, do you or do you not want to get to know blake better

Sun Wukong: …well, yes, but it’s more than that! She’s all so… gloomy and introverted and sad and stuff and that’s not cool! She needs a friend, you know?

Yang Xiao Long: …what, and you’re gonna swoop in and rescue her from her loneliness or sth?

Sun Wukong: I mean if you put it like _that_ I sound like a prick.

Sun Wukong: It’s just… I try to hang out with her, but she keeps telling me she’s gonna finish her book or meet Pyrrha freakin’ Nikos instead! She’s like, a celebrity! A _major_ celebrity! That’s a lot of pressure to put on me, man! How do I compare with Miss Invincible Girl, 4-time Mistral Regional champion? Besides, what if Pyrrha doesn’t like Faunus?

Yang Xiao Long: …

Sun Wukong: Okay, now that I see what I just typed, it sounds freakin’ stupid. But still!

Sun Wukong: Look, Yang, ya gotta help me. She’s your partner, you should know her best.

Yang Xiao Long: bold assumption you’re making there

Sun Wukong: I just wanna get to know her better, you know? I wanna figure out like… _why_ she acts the way she does. I’m worried for her! And I figure you’re the best person to ask.

Yang Xiao Long: …

_Someone is typing…_

Yang Xiao Long: yknow what, sun? you’re right. you need help.

Sun Wukong: So you’re gonna help me?!

Yang Xiao Long: well, not me, specifically.

Yang Xiao Long: the thing about seeking knowledge is, you gotta know the right people.

Yang Xiao Long: so im bringing in some experts.

Sun Wukong: That’s awesome! You’re the best, Yang!

_Someone is typing…_

_Yang Xiao Long added **Jaune Arc** to the chat!_

Jaune Arc: wut

Sun Wukong: Oh, hey, dude! Wait, why’d add Yang add you?

Jaune Arc: oh sup sun

Jaune Arc: not sure, yang just dm’d me out of nowhere and said she was calling in a favor.

Jaune Arc: something about blake, i think? i’m not sure why i’m here though…

Sun Wukong: Wait, I didn’t know you and Blake were friends.

Sun Wukong: I should have known, though, since she just kept making jokes about you at the dance for that whole flash mob thing.

Jaune Arc: dude pls don’t ever say that again

Jaune Arc: i can feel blake just giving me that judgmental stare of hers again… it was bad enough at the dance!

Jaune Arc: she wont stop making fun of me for the weiss thing so _please_ don’t give her any more ammunition to tease me

Sun Wukong: Hey dude, if it’s any consolation, our team’s making fun of Neptune too for being dumped immediately after the dance, so you two can bond over your bad luck with girls.

Jaune Arc: that doesn’t make me feel any better!

_Yang Xiao Long added **Pyrrha Nikos** to the chat!_

Sun Wukong: YANG WHAT THE F-

Jaune Arc: pyr! what are you doin here

Pyrrha Nikos: I’m not sure, honestly… Yang said something about helping Blake out…

Sun Wukong: oh man it’s the real pyrrha nikos dasfdasgfadsgadsgfad

Sun Wukong: im like a huge fan!!! Ahhhhhhhhh

Pyrrha Nikos: …thank you?

Sun Wukong: Does this mean we’re friends now? Oh, man, I can’t wait to tell Neptune!

Jaune Arc: well, you’re a friend of blake’s too, so im sure you and pyr will get along well

Pyrrha Nikos: …yes… I can certainly see us… interacting…

_Someone is typing…_

_Yang Xiao Long changed Sun Wukong’s nickname to **Great Simp Equaling Heaven**!_

Great Simp Equaling Heaven: Hey! How am I a simp?

Jaune Arc: you kind of are, dude

Great Simp Equaling Heaven: This coming from you?!

Jaune Arc: HEY ive moved on ok! i promise!

_Yang Xiao Long changed Jaune Arc’s nickname to **token dog friend**!_

token dog friend: oh come on not you too!

_Yang Xiao Long changed Pyrrha’s nickname to **real best friend**!_

real best friend: I wouldn’t _say_ that… we just happen to share similar interests and hobbies. I wouldn’t want to impinge on your position, Yang.

Yang Xiao long: shush you, p-money

_Yang Xiao Long changed her own nickname to **jock friend**!_

Great Simp Equaling Heaven: wait, so why’d you add em?

jock friend: well, my monkey friend, you are looking at two of blake’s best friends and writing partners! they can tell you all you need to know about blake, and who knows? if you play your cards right, maybe they’ll put a good word in for you!

token dog friend: i mean, i get pyr being here, but i don’t think im _that_ close to blake…

jock friend: you’ve exchanged at least a hundred words with her, _and_ she willingly talks to you. that elevates you to good friend status

real best friend: Yang, I’m not sure about the wisdom of setting up a group chat with the explicit purpose of hooking up one of our friends with… someone else.

Great Simp Equaling Heaven: Um, why am I getting bad vibes from you, Pyr? Can I call you that?

real best friend: Please don’t.

real best friend: But seriously, Yang? What exactly are we supposed to do here?

jock friend: ohohohoho. you see, p-money, monkey boy here wanted _knowledge_. and knowledge must not be given freely. you gotta go through trials and tribulations to prove you are worthy!

jock friend: also, you’re wrong on one thing, p-money. we _aren’t_ here to set up blake with sun.

jock friend: for you see, sun, this is no longer a chat where you ask me for advice on how to woo blake…

_jock friend changed the group chat’s name to **Blake’s Harem**!_

jock friend: this is a chat to exchange notes

real best friend: YANG

real best friend: you’re incorrigible!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Blake’s Harem is basically an otome game-styled group chat, and everyone occupies a specific otome game character archetype. Yes, I am deliberately not detailing how the Jaune and Weiss reconciliation happened yet. That’s why Weiss chapters exist 😊 Also, bonus points to anyone who notices who else is currently having Yang’s character arc in this fic, albeit from a different angle. That might explain why I chose the character dynamics in this chapter that I did.
> 
> Right, so next up on the docket is a oneshot featuring everyone’s favorite female teacher, Professor Pea- Glynda Goodwitch! It’s titled Her Favorite Students and it’s about, you guessed it, her favorite students. It’s technically “foreshadowed” in Team NWBY and here! Check it out when it comes out! Tell me if you have any requests for other such oneshots in the future! Leave a review, drop a fave or kudos, just give me feedback! I crave such things!
> 
> For this fic, though? Next up is a Thursday, and I hope y’all know what Thursday chapters mean…


	11. Volume 2.25 (Thursday): I have never, in fact, tasted peanut butter ever in my entire life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s a Thursday chapter! And Nora seems to have a lot of focus in the V8 trailer, so get hype! I can’t wait for my reading of Nora’s character to be confirmed by Nora bits we get in V8! :^)
> 
> By the way, Ann Greene is the Stealth and Security teacher, mentioned briefly in After the Fall. All the characterization however is purely mine, so consider her an OC for all intents and purposes.

_Welcome to **Beacon Academy Staff Room**!_

_PORT added **Nora Valkyrie** to the chat!_

Hot For Chocolate: glynda

Hot For Chocolate: i seem to have misplaced the request forms for James’ parking permit

Glynda: Ozpin, for the last time, James is requesting for an _airspace permit_ for his battleships.

Glynda: I know you aren’t exactly fond of the Council’s decision to bring him in for extra security, but this is honestly very childish of you.

Hot For Chocolate: oh please glynda

Hot For Chocolate: you and i both know you are not fond of james’, ah, “overcompensation” as well

Glynda: You and I know that I did _not_ call it that.

Glynda: I distinctly remember calling it his attempts at displaying his military bravado.

Hot For Chocolate: really, because I remember you claiming he treats every situation like a contest for measuring [edited]

_Someone is typing…_

Glynda: I’m glad I didn’t have to give you the lecture on proper chatroom etiquette.

Glynda: Honestly, I’ve given Peter the the same lecture repeatedly and he _cannot_ wrap his head around the idea of proper workplace boundaries.

Glynda: Also, I’m surprised you can find the edit button, Ozpin.

Hot For Chocolate: ann taught me how

Hacker Ma’am: took me half a day but here we are

Doctor: Perhaps next time Professor Greene and I can teach the headmaster how to use the emotes :eyes:

Hacker Ma’am: first he’ll have to learn how to delete the photos from the faculty costume party

Hot For Chocolate: **_PORT_**

Doctor: In his defense your _did_ rock that look. :grin:

Hot For Chocolate: indeed

Hot For Chocolate: my legs _did_ look very nice in that costume

Hot For Chocolate: but enough about me

Hot For Chocolate: glynda, the forms?

Glynda: I’ll place them on top of your desk later. Unfortunately, _some_ of us still have classes and cannot attend to your every need.

Hot For Chocolate: come now, glynda

Hot For Chocolate: I know you spend most of your Combat classes reading those novels you confiscate from Miss Belladonna

Glynda: _how do you know that_

Hacker Ma’am: as per beacon regulations, confiscated items must be checked in and out by an officially registered and recognized member of the beacon faculty, and the logs are carefully monitored by the official stealth and security faculty member

Hacker Ma’am: ie me

Hot For Chocolate: really, glynda, you can’t hide these things from us

Hot For Chocolate: you really shouldn’t be hiding your hobbies from us, you know

Hot For Chocolate: ann and I are also excited to find out what’s next for those crazy kunoichi

Hacker Ma’am: i prefer the cyber-kunoichi series but this is aight too

Doctor: I will _never_ understand your obsession with Mistralian cartoons :upside_down:

Glynda: I am _not_ obsessed!

_Someone is typing…_

PORT: Oh ho!

PORT: I seem to have been, as the kids say, “pinged”.

PORT: I do apologize; I was in the middle of an _enthralling_ lesson about proper survival tips when besieged by Beringels from all sides… [edited]

Hacker Ma’am: yall better be thankful i put down a tldr for peter’s last message

Hacker Ma’am: i also put him on shadowmute for the next half-hour, thank me later

Hacker Ma’am: anyway brb looks like miss rose is trying to mess with the beaconchat app _again_

_Someone is typing…_

Glynda: Ann, I keep telling you, you should not use your valuable time on this little feud of yours with Miss Rose.

Hot For Chocolate: come now, Glynda

Hot For Chocolate: stealth and security _is_ part of her job description

Doctor: At least she’s present for most of her classes, unlike a certain _someone_ :smirk:

Glynda: Speaking of, Professor Peach’s weekly report should come in any minute now.

_AFK has uploaded a photo!_

Doctor: Splendid! Speak and the mythical creature shall appear :smiling_face_with_tear:

Doctor: Thumbelina, while your passion for plant life is unparalleled as always, I feel that you may be… neglecting some specific duties of yours.

Doctor: You know? As an educator?

AFK: ?

Hot For Chocolate: now, now, bart, you and I know well that lina’s fieldwork can be very taxing.

Hot For Chocolate: let’s try not to bother her until she’s back at Beacon

Doctor: Duly noted, but I maintain that her TAs should be getting their wage adjusted for all the work they do for her.

Hot For Chocolate: I’ll make sure to consider adjusting Mr. Bronzewing and Mr. Lark’s stipends to account for all their work.

Glynda: With all due respect, sir, we may as well add them as part of the faculty considering they’ve pretty much taken over Plant Studies

Doctor: Considering that they were recommended purely on Peach’s insistence…

Hot For Chocolate: lets not get too hasty glynda

Hot For Chocolate: why, we may as well pay Miss Nikos a full teacher’s salary considering how much training she’s given some of our other students

Glynda: You and I both know she’s… destined for greater things than being an educator, Ozpin.

_Someone is typing…_

Port: And of course, the battle ended after I thrust my huge, pulsating [edited]

Hacker Ma’am: ok what the hell, I set his shadowmute for thirty minutes and he’s _still_ talking?!

\---0---

Nora Valkyrie, unlike most students, looked forward to Grimm Studies, mostly because she felt that people were sleeping on the contents of the class. Sure, she understood that Port made a horrible first impression on most students – she recalled that _awful_ wink Professor Port gave Yang at the start of the year, for one – and his lecture style was… idiosyncratic at best, but Nora felt that they weren’t _too_ bad. Once you got past all the storytelling (which Nora was fond of, but she understood that not everyone was capable of keeping up with Port’s fantastic stories) there were great lessons to be picked up from the old professor. Heck, Nora had picked up fantastic anti-Beringel tactics from this one lecture alone! Details like their heavily armored nature, their tendency to use other Grimm as projectile weapons… plus, who knew that bananas actually worked as projectile weapons against them?

(Nora wasn’t exactly sure what to make of Port’s claims that flying variants of the creatures existed, but Port was the experienced Huntsman and she had only seen Beringels a few times on her travels with Ren, so what did she know?)

The point was, Nora felt that, despite Professor Port’s quirks, there were valuable things to be gleaned from his stories if people were willing to listen, which was why she dutifully took notes in class and did her best to tell the rest of her friends abbreviated versions of Port’s tales over lunch, or sometimes dinner, when the two teams found the time to do so. Pyrrha and Weiss, bless them, had tried to do the same for their friend group, but even the two had given up halfway through the first semester, realizing that they simply didn’t have the aptitude to parse what was useful and what wasn’t from Port’s lectures. Nora, to her credit, tried to explain, as best she could, but she always had a hard time expressing herself, despite Ren’s best efforts to translate for her.

Speaking of the two, Nora soon realized that everyone had given up trying to pay attention to the Grimm Studies lecture and instead were paying attention to the scrolls, if the slight vibration and silent notifications coming from her scroll was any indication. Nora groaned at that – sure, they had the week off, and technically they could have skipped Grimm Studies – but the two teams had collectively decided that cabin fever was setting in, that they really didn’t have much else to do (Blake had run out of books to read, for one, a fact that took everyone off guard) and they collectively decided over breakfast that they may as well see what was happening in one of the few classes that _weren_ ’ _t_ cancelled in light of the Breach.

Port, as was customary, had brought in Grimm for a demonstration, and was now absentmindedly typing on his scroll even as everyone watched Russel wrestle with a flock of tiny Nevermores ( _Lessermores_ , Weiss had jokingly called them once, and Nora liked the name enough that she insisted on using it in her head) and flail around uselessly, his daggers hitting nothing but air as the Lessermores darted all over the boy, a few enterprising ones even making a nest out of his hair.

Sure, it had been entertaining at first, but five minutes into the fight and it became clear that they weren’t going to be seeing anything productive from the epic Russel v Nevermore fight, and even Port had begun focusing on his scroll more, so Nora decided to look at her messages to see what was happening in the RWBY + JNPR group chat.

(Nora, as a rule, tended to ignore her scroll during class, if only because she knew she would be distracted by whatever conversation her friends got to, but Nora also had a crippling fear of missing out, so she inevitably _had_ to look at whatever inane conversation they were having.)

Before she could, however, Nora realized that Professor Port had accidentally added her to a group chat meant for the faculty. ( _Probably a butt dial_ , Nora assumed.) A quick readthrough of the contents shocked her: there were the things that she expected, like how Glynda basically ran things for everyone, with Ozpin _heavily_ relying on her to moderate everything, or how Professor Port was always muted for telling his stories in chat ( _that_ broke Nora’s heart, as she loved Port stories), but a couple of specific things caught her eye, like how Ozpin and Glynda were hinting that Pyrrha was _destined_ for greater things.

What exactly did that mean?

Nora was about to go on a deep dive into the chat logs, hoping to find anything of note, but before she could so, Ozpin had sent a few new messages with… _interesting_ implications, and before she could fully ponder on the ramifications of what she had been discovered, she had been kicked out of the chat.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Beacon Academy Staff Room**!_

Hot For Chocolate: Oh, Glynda, how is James’ Maiden project faring?

Glynda: Oh for

Glynda: Stop sending private messages on the wrong channels, Ozpin.

Glynda: **Hacker Ma’am**?

Hacker Ma’am: what

Hacker Ma’am: oh

Hacker Ma’am: gdi port stop accidentally adding students into the faculty chat

 _Hacker Ma’am removed **Nora Valkyrie**_ _from the chat!_

\---0---

(Well, Nora could _imagine_ that was how things went. She was paying more attention to Port than the chat, after all, and only saw a few scattered, half-remembered bits.)

In any case, Nora was now intrigued. While the insight into the utterly banal conversations that were happening between the faculty was interesting to her, it was the suggestion of more _secrets_ that really got her imagination running. Ren always chided her for her wild imagination, but Nora always had her suspicions about the faculty – really, could you trust the headmaster when he drank _hot chocolate_ – but the little glimpses of the faculty chat convinced her that, yes, the faculty, specifically Ozpin, had _plans,_ most likely for Pyrrha, and damn it, Nora was determined to find out what they were! Maybe her suspicions about Ruby’s silver eyes had some actual merit, too!

(Nora dismissed that thought as quickly as it occurred to her, looking at Ruby, who was busy engaging in a lively conversation over scrolls with her partner. Some things were simply too outlandish, even for her.)

Conspiracies about silver eyes notwithstanding, Nora had a duty to report these matters to her friends, just like how she made it her duty to regale everyone with abridged versions of Port’s stories in class, so she opened their group chat to inform everyone of the shocking news, although from the look of things, it seems like the chat was… obsessed… with different topics…

\---0---

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW**!_

Queen of the Castle: Guys! Big news!

Snow Angel: For the _last_ time, Ruby, peanut butter is a perfectly valid spread!

Snow Angel: You’re just being petulant because you ate bad peanut butter as a child and can’t move on!

RedLikeStrawberries: peanut butter tastes like bleh and you know it weiss

RedLikeStrawberries: peanut butter is bad and should feel bad.

RedLikeStrawberries: have you _tried_ peanut butter cookies?

RedLikeStrawberries: they’re abominations! almost as bad as oatmeal raisin cookies

Snow Angel: For the record, oatmeal raisin cookies are delicious.

Snow Angel: Also, stop moving the goalposts! We’re discussing good spreads to eat with bread here!

Big Kitty Goth GF: you two have been at it for almost half an hour now. don’t you get tired?

RedLikeStrawberries: its either this or watch russel get beat up by lessermores

SunnyLittleDragon: you gotta admit blake this is slightly more amusing than watching the Passion of the Thrush

Ren-sensei: Speaking of, it seems Professor Port will finally step in.

Cereal Girl: Personally, I think I could watch five more minutes of this.

SunnyLittleDragon: speak for yourself, p-money. look, even VB is asleep, and he usually tries to stay awake for these things

Cereal Girl: Oh, let him rest.

Cereal Girl: Blake’s friend Sun dragged him and Ren away from our dorms last night.

Big Kitty Goth GF: sun isn’t my responsibility! and why is he _my_ friend specifically?

Cereal Girl: You know _exactly_ why, Blake.

Cereal Girl: Do try to keep him in line, would you?

Big Kitty Goth GF: _why_ does everyone assume i have him on a leash?

SunnyLittleDragon: from what i hear, sun might not be against that kinda stuff

SunnyLittleDragon: if you know what i mean ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Cereal Girl: YANG

Cereal Girl: You’re incorrigible!

Snow Angel: _Honestly_ , Yang. Why do you insist on speaking like a perverted teenager?

Snow Angel: …in any case, Ren, pray tell: what did you boys and Sun get up to?

SunnyLittleDragon: oh so i cant make dirty jokes but you wanna know what the boys got up to on their little boys night?

SunnyLittleDragon: heh, we can see right through you weiss

Snow Angel: _Please_ stop talking, Yang. I’m trying to keep everything in this chat clean!

Ren-sensei: Oh.

Ren-sensei: Apologies. Almost drifted off to sleep there.

RedLikeStrawberries: i didn’t even realize you managed to take a short nap!!!

RedLikeStrawberries: how did you _do_ that ren???

Ren-sensei: Trade secret.

Ren-sensei: In any case.

Ren-sensei: We spent a few hours over at the SSSN dorms. Sun and Jaune played video games.

Big Kitty Goth GF: huh i didn’t know sun and jaune were friends

RedLikeStrawberries: oh, sun and jaune hit it off in leadership class, mostly bc coco makes fun of the two of them all the time

Snow Angel: I didn’t think you were much of a video game person, Ren

Ren-sensei: I mostly watched Sun, Jaune, and Neptune play. Scarlet wasn’t interested in playing and Sage was nowhere to be found.

Ren-sensei: Neptune kept losing to this player… TailFail01, I think?

Ren-sensei: Oh, and Weiss, Neptune says hi.

Snow Angel: I am _not_ talking to him.

Big Kitty Goth GF: what did he do

Snow Angel: He knows what he did!

Big Kitty Goth GF: wait i just noticed

Big Kitty Goth GF: nora, you had something to say?

Queen of the Castle: Oh, its fine.

Queen of the Castle: I found out something interesting, but I’ll save it for dinner.

SunnyLittleDragon: ooh, is this like that dream where you were fighting flying beringels?

Queen of the Castle: I told you, I _really_ thought it was real!

Queen of the Castle: But nah, this isn’t like, something critical we need to know.

Snow Angel: Are you sure, Nora? You know we’re always here to listen.

Queen of the Castle: Aww Weissy, I always knew you cared!

RedLikeStrawberries: this doesnt erase the fact that weiss is a filthy crease apologist

Queen of the Castle: _Excuse me?!_

Cereal Girl: Oh, dear, I thought we were finished with this argument.

Big Kitty Goth GF: they’re just as bad as when you and ren get started on an argument pyr

Ren-sensei: I fail to see how you can compare myself and Pyrrha with these two

RedLikeStrawberries: who the heck likes crease’s butter cups?!

Ren-sensei: For one, they are having an argument over a subjective matter with no clear winner

Ren-sensei: Whereas _I_ am right and Pyrrha is in the wrong.

Cereal Girl: _Excuse me?!_

SunnyLittleDragon: yo crease’s are disgusting

Snow Angel: Perhaps if you are a heathen with no taste!

RedLikeStrawberries: you’re not convincing anyone just bc you read the dictionary and know more words weiss!

Cereal Girl: You know, I was asked to do a commercial for Crease’s a year ago.

Big Kitty Goth GF: i assume there’s a ‘but’ here

Cereal Girl: …they didn’t taste very good. It took a couple of takes for me to muster a smile for the cameras.

Big Kitty Goth GF: yeah theyre meh. i just dont see the appeal of peanut butter and chocolate together

Snow Angel: You are all _traitors_ and I hope you understand just how terrible your palates are.

Snow Angel: Ren, back me up here! Don’t you like peanut butter too?

Ren-sensei: I am not opposed to them, but unfortunately, Nora is allergic to cashew, so we tend to steer clear of most forms of nuts just to be safe.

Queen of the Castle: I have never, in fact, tasted peanut butter ever in my entire life.

Snow Angel: Oh, Nora, you poor thing.

Queen of the Castle: I’ll be fine!

\---0---

Okay, so maybe Nora chickened out and _didn_ ’ _t_ tell anyone about her suspicions, but could anyone blame her? The thing about habits was that you barely noticed them forming or breaking.

Ren had always done his best to explain for her, bless him, but even Nora understood how difficult it was for people to take her words seriously. She _did_ have a tendency to confuse her dreams for reality at times, and sure, she sometimes liked to embellish her stories to make them more exciting for her audiences, but Nora liked to think that she never _lied_. She could withhold information if she had to, sure, and she could keep secrets, but she wasn’t someone interested in lying about herself, or making up fabricated stories. Sure, she sometimes confused Ursai with Beowolves, forgot that they were fighting in the middle of the day sometimes instead of at night, and maybe there actually _were_ just two beowolves instead of a dozen, but she didn’t set out to lie about the stories she wanted to tell! That was why Ren was there, anyway – to keep her story straight!

Still, as the months passed and Nora adjusted to her new circle of friends, she noticed that she was thinking harder and harder about the stories she was telling, making sure that they were more believable, that she had her facts straight, that _this_ time she wouldn’t confuse one of her dreams for an actual adventure she had with Ren. Part of it was that she finally had an opportunity to interact with people who _weren’t_ Ren for extended periods of time, and it filled her heart with glee to know that Yang and Ruby would always pay attention to her stories, that Blake always lent an ear even if she was focused elsewhere, and that even if Weiss outwardly acted as if Nora’s stories went in one ear and out the other that she actually was looking out for Nora in her own Weissy way. And don’t get her started on Pyrrha and Jaune!

No, the reason Nora was more mindful of her storytelling was because she _didn’t want to lose their trust_.

She knew all about the old morality stories, the parables about the boy who cried Beowolf and the dangers of loose lips, and Nora was mortally afraid that she would wake up one day and realize that her newfound friends _didn’t take her words seriously anymore_. Sure, they were paying attention _now_ , but it only took one too many tall tales or Nora mistaking one of her fantastical dreams for an actual adventure for all of her friends to just… start ignoring her stories. Nora wasn’t dumb, even if she tended to come across as that often – if she wanted to tell everyone that she was suspicious of Ozpin, that he had _plans_ in place that involved some of their friends, then she needed _proof_.

After all, Ren wasn’t always able to explain her stories for everyone else.

(The other part of her hesitation, the one she didn’t want to admit to herself, was that she genuinely didn’t want to interrupt what looked like a fun conversation among her friends, to ruin the good mood with what was she worried was her paranoia talking. _Nobody liked a party pooper_ , Nora would often sing in her head at moments like this, and in that particular moment, Nora felt she was dangerously close to being one herself.)

At some point, Nora had changed, and if she was asked to pinpoint the exact moment that her habits changed, she would have been unable to answer. That was the nature of habits, after all.

So Nora _wasn’t_ lying: she _was_ fine. As her friends continued their inane conversation, Nora instead focused her attention on Professor Port, who was busy explaining everything that Russel did wrong in his encounter with the Nevermore flock, offering effective strategies to deal with hordes of Grimm and Nevermore flocks – not that anyone paid attention to him, because Port had made an awful first impression on everyone and he was not exactly the best talker. (Maybe if he allowed people to eat snacks in class then they would have the energy to listen, Nora mused, but those were the stray thoughts that came to her and disappeared just as quickly.)

Still, a part of Nora liked him and his awkward attempts at expressing himself, so she listened and paid attention to the professor. She could start looking for proof later, she decided, even if she had to do it to herself.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Thunder Cats**!_

Cream Puff: nora…?

Thunder Thighs: Oh, hey, Blake! What’s up?

Thunder Thighs: You feeling up for another workout?

Cream Puff: pls no

Cream Puff: id like to retain use of my legs tyvm

Thunder Thighs: Aww.

Cream Puff: look i just wanted to talk to you

Cream Puff: where _are_ you anyway? you disappeared after grimm studies

Thunder Thighs: Oh, I stuck around to ask Professor Port some questions~ That lecture was really fascinating, right?

Cream Puff: um

Cream Puff: ill take your word for it

Thunder Thighs: No, seriously! The Beringel lecture was neat! I really picked up a lot of things about their movement and attack patterns, and it should be useful for when we encounter Beringels out in the wild!

Thunder Thighs: Did you know that Beringels are some of the most dangerous opponents to encounter in the wilds of Sanus and Anima? It’s ‘cause they’re like, _stupidly_ stealthy when they want to be. It’s real easy for ‘em to sneak up on you out on the woods and BAM! Hit you with those huge arms of theirs.

Thunder Thighs: I’d _love_ to fight one in person someday. I couldn’t back when we were kids because Ren’s always “no nora we must be careful when engaging the enemy” but now I’m trained _and_ I’ve got a team backing me up this time so I can definitely fight a Beringel! Maybe even fight one with my bare hands!

Thunder Thighs: Heck, maybe I’ll even get to ride one!

Thunder Thighs: But that’s enough about me. What’s up, Blakey?

Cream Puff: just checking up on you

Thunder Thighs: Okay…? Not sure why you wanna keep tabs on me all of a sudden, but I’ll bite!

Cream Puff: …just call it a hunch. you sounded like you wanted to talk abt sth in chat earlier but decided against it

Cream Puff: i spend too much time around pyr and jaune, so im more or less used to people holding back what they’re thinking

Cream Puff: kinda guilty of the same honestly

Cream Puff: so uh, yeah, trying to be better paying attention to stuff like this

Thunder Thighs: …y’know, it’s because you keep doing stuff like this that Yang makes fun of you for spending so much time around Pyrrha and Jaune

Thunder Thighs: You don’t have to keep watching over us like you’re a ninja from your novels!

Thunder Thighs: …unless that’s what you’re into, and hey, I don’t judge, you have stuff you wanna do, just like your friend Sun is apparently into collars and leashes…

Cream Puff: _please_ ignore yang’s off-color jokes, nora

Cream Puff: also, why does _everyone_ assume that sun is my responsibility?

Thunder Thighs: You _did_ go to the dance with him.

Cream Puff: first of all, he asked me out, and i agreed because yang said i needed to take a break. so we went together. _as friends_. I told him not to read into things.

Cream Puff: seriously, why does nobody take what i say seriously?

Thunder Thighs: It would help if you were a bit more honest about what you feel

Cream Puff: …are you saying that to me or Ren?

Thunder Thighs: Touché!

Thunder Thighs: Okay, okay, I get it.

Thunder Thighs: For the record, I take what you say seriously. We all do. When we found out you guys were chasing after the White Fang, Pyrrha and Jaune really, _really_ wanted to get involved.

Thunder Thighs: But, well, Pyrrha respected your decision to keep it to you guys. It wasn’t our business, you know?

Thunder Thighs: …how’s things with Pyrrha, by the way?

Cream Puff: we talked it out, but there’s still _some_ awkwardness.

Thunder Thighs: I’m sure Pyrrha just has stuff to work out on her side.

Cream Puff: …yeah

 _Someone is typing_ …

Cream Puff: look im not trying to be invasive or anything

Cream Puff: but im p sure your trying to snoop around and do something in secret

Thunder Thighs: Whaaaaat

Thunder Thighs: That’s crazy talk Blakey

Thunder Thighs: I don’t have a _single_ sneaky bone in my body

Cream Puff: which is why it’s obvious there’s something you’re not telling your teammates

Cream Puff: look, i know that we’re not _that_ close, and im just the weirdo who hangs around with pyrrha and jaune often

Thunder Thighs: That’s not true! You’re our friend!

Cream Puff: …but i don’t want to just sit back and watch as someone who _clearly_ needs help fumble around trying to figure out a way to distract Professor Port long enough to steal his scroll

Thunder Thighs: W-what?

Cream Puff: I _see_ you, Nora Valkyrie.

Cream Puff: How about we just talk?

\---0---

Nora didn’t know _how_ she didn’t scream, but she somehow held back the sound in her throat as she watched Blake materialize almost out of thin air next to her.

The Valkyrie was loitering outside the Grimm Studies classroom, sneaking a few glances inside to confirm that Professor Port was still inside, but to her chargrin, she had no idea how to try get past the portly professor and gain access to the professor’s scroll. She was trying to do this because she had reasoned that, if she was to obtain more concrete proof of her suspicions, that she would need to find a way to gain access to the conversations in the faculty chat without arousing suspicion, and the best way to do so was to access it with one of the faculty’s scrolls.

Nora, however, didn’t exactly have the necessary skillset to acquire one of the faculty scrolls, which was why she was where was at that moment, loitering outside the Grimm Studies classroom, pacing back and forth, waiting for the right opportunity to do _something_. It was moments like this that she wished that she had more of Ren’s skills – as much as she took pride in her ability to maintain a complicated weapon like Magnhild, as well as the necessary core strength to the lug the dust-damned thing around, she also lacked in other areas, like stealth and sublety. That was more Ren’s speed!

Blake’s appearance, in that respect, was a boon, because while Nora tried her best not to pry into the private lives of her friends, it was common knowledge to their friend group that Blake was a former operative for the White Fang, and presumably had the necessarily skills for the job she had in mind. As loath as Nora was to admit it, she _needed_ help, and Blake was the best fit for the job.

The tough part was convincing Blake to believe her story.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Thunder Cats**!_

Thunder Thighs: Okay, so run the plan by me again?

Cream Puff: nora i _told_ you like three times already, we’re running standard distraction tactics

Cream Puff: we wait for port to put his scroll in his briefcase

Cream Puff: once he puts his briefcase away, you knock on the door and ask professor port about beringel group tactics

Thunder Thighs: Right, and I make sure his back is against the door so he doesn’t see you sneak in

Cream Puff: ill handle the rest from there

Cream Puff: just… just keep port talking

Thunder Thighs: Gotta say, it’s real weird talking with our scrolls when we’re looking at each other

Cream Puff: unless you have a better idea to make sure port doesn’t hear us plan this we’re sticking to scrolls, alright?

Thunder Thighs: Okay, okay!

Thunder Thighs: Are you _sure_ you can steal his scroll?

Cream Puff: look this isn’t the first time ive stolen things from high-priority targets from under their noses

Thunder Thighs: Not sure you should be proud of that, Blakey.

Cream Puff: …im not, but now i have petty larceny as part of my skillset

Cream Puff: and we’re relying on said skillset to help you with finding proof of a faculty conspiracy

Cream Puff: so here we are

Thunder Thighs: WAIT

Thunder Thighs: Does this mean you used to be a cat burglar???

Cream Puff: …nora as much as i want to contest that and call it offensive i may or may not have committed acts that fall under the cat burglar label

Thunder Thighs: Ah, gotcha.

Thunder Thighs: Right. We can’t prove anything. :wink:

Cream Puff: exactly

Cream Puff: …well, now’s as good a time as any

Thunder Thighs: Briefcase looks clear. How long do you need?

Cream Puff: I’d say ten minutes. I’m sure Port’s talked to himself for longer.

Thunder Thighs: Aww, he’s not _that_ bad.

Thunder Thighs: But yeah, I’m sure I can keep him distracted for that long.

Thunder Thighs: Let’s go?

Cream Puff: let’s

\---0---

(Nora wasn’t sure how Blake would react when she dragged the Faunus into the empty classroom next to where their Grimm Studies class was held, explaining her suspicions about Ozpin and the faculty, but she certainly didn’t expect Blake _believing_ her, or even agreeing to helping her out with what was admittedly a harebrained scheme on her part. Still, she wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth!)

\---0---

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW**!_

**_Vomit Boy_ ** _started a call!_

**_SunnyLittleDragon_ ** _joined the call!_

_Someone is typing…_

Snow Angel: What is it, Jaune? We’re in the middle of a game here.

Snow Angel: I absolutely _cannot_ allow Ren to build up an army to take over Atlas, and your incessant calls are distracting me from finishing off Ruby’s pathetic excuse of an invasion

RedLikeRoses: you talk a big game for someone who just learned this game a few weeks ago weiss

Snow Angel: Yes, but I made sure to learn the rules in the intervening weeks!

Snow Angel: Also, why are we chatting here? We’re _right in front of each other_.

Snow Angel: Honestly! You and Yang are so alike it hurts!

**_Vomit Boy_ ** _ended the call._

Vomit Boy: guys! big news!

RedLikeStrawberries: jaune where the heck are you

RedLikeStrawberries: pyrrha’s losing badly at the remnant board game and she really needs your help

Vomit Boy: oh uh yang asked me to teach her how to play guitar

Snow Angel: For what purpose would Yang want to learn the guitar?

Snow Angel: And from you? No offense, but you’re not exactly the best at music.

Vomit Boy: hey! so im bad at singing, so sue me

Vomit Boy: I’ll have you know that I have been told I am a natural born guitarist.

Snow Angel: By who? Your mother?

Vomit Boy: …and Pyrrha!

SunnyLittleDragon: yo weiss VB’s the real deal

SunnyLittleDragon: gimme some practice and ill totally have my own original content for my own channel

RedLikeStrawberries: whaaat i thought we were teaming up

SunnyLittleDragon: sure, but id like my own side thing, yknow?

SunnyLittleDragon: figured id try out a bit of guitar-playing

Snow Angel: You better not be distracted from our ASMR channel, Jaune!

Vomit Boy: i won’t, i won’t

Vomit Boy: also im p sure teaching pyr remnant the game’s a lost cause she’s _really_ unlucky at drawing the cards she needs

Vomit Boy: wait that isn’t important right now!

RedLikeStrawberries: so whats up

Vomit Boy: guys you wont believe this

Vomit Boy: apparently someone tried to steal stuff from port after grimm studies!

Snow Angel: Wait, what?

Snow Angel: Who would do such an idiotic thing?

SunnyLittleDragon: iunno, we just heard about it from a couple of students gossiping

SunnyLittleDragon: apparently nora was talking to port after class when someone tried to steal port’s briefcase

SunnyLittleDragon: luckily blake forgot something and spotted the person before they got away and got the briefcase back

RedLikeStrawberries: oh no are nora and blake ok

Vomit Boy: yeah we ran into them as they were making their way to ozpin’s office to report on the incident

SunnyLittleDragon: didnt look like they were in trouble or anything

RedLikeStrawberries: are you sure???

RedLikeStrawberries: because this sounds rly serious!!!

RedLikeStrawberries: **Queen of the Castle**! **Big Kitty Goth GF**! are you ok???

_Someone is typing…_

Big Kitty Goth GF: we’re fine, ruby

Big Kitty Goth GF: we just finished filing the incident report to ozpin

Big Kitty Goth GF: I’m heading back to the dorms now

Queen of the Castle: nora said she was gonna pick some stuff up

Cereal Girl: Good, because Ruby is currently pacing back and forth, worried _sick_ for the two of you, and Weiss is trying to make sure Ruby doesn’t panic.

Cereal Girl: _Please_ tell me you two are fine.

Big Kitty Goth GF: we’re _fine_ , pyr. no need to go all mother hen on us.

Ren-sensei: Nora? Are you alright?

Queen of the Castle: _Yes,_ Ren, Blake and I are fine! You worry too much! Sheesh!

Ren-sensei: Considering that the two of you were involved in someone attempting to steal from a Beacon professor and retired Huntsman, it is perhaps unsurprising that we are _slightly_ worried.

Queen of the Castle: …yeah, you’re right.

Queen of the Castle: …sorry.

Big Kitty Goth GF: ren look we’ll explain everything once we get to the dorms, alright?

Big Kitty Goth GF: until then, please try to calm ruby down

Ren-sensei: We will try.

Queen of the Castle: Good, because you will _not_ believe this story…

\---0---

As she made her way to their dorm’s common room pantry, Nora meditated on the events of the past hour, finally settling on one realization: like most things in Nora Valkyrie’s life, things started out innocuous and ended up snowballing into a mess that at least would make for a good story.

The plan had gone off without a hitch, at least at the start – Nora walked up to the Grimm Studies professor and began bombarding him with questions about the lesson he had just given, making sure that the portly retired Huntsman was distracted enough to not notice Blake silently make her way inside the room. Nora marveled at the way that Blake made no sound as she darted across the room, in sync to Port’s rousing anecdote about the time he had a fistfight with a Beringel and took down the Grimm with a brutal hook that Port claimed crushed the Beringel’s midsection, and just as Port reached the climax of the story, describing in detail the feeling of punching through Grimm flesh, Blake reached out for Port’s briefcase, which was laid atop the table behind the professor.

Everything up to that point, thankfully, was going to plan, but Blake seemed determined to surprise Nora today. Blake was supposed to, as they had agreed on before all this, take Port’s briefcase and retreat to the empty classroom across the one used for Grimm Studies, hopefully giving her enough time to secure Port’s scroll, find as much evidence of any conspiracy plans, and transfer them to Blake’s scroll.

The first sign of things going wrong the look of hesitation on Blake’s face as the she reached for the briefcase.

It was the most minor of flinches, the brief second of hesitation, Blake’s hands pausing slightly, as if an invisible hand grabbed her arm and preventing it from reaching for the briefcase, before Blake shook off all her hesitations and obtained the object of their mini-heist. It was the kind of thing that Nora sometimes observed from Ren, who always hesitated for a second before reciprocating one of Nora’s hugs, or sometimes flinched reflexively when Nora reached out to touch him. Those were the actions, Nora realized, of someone who was unsure of what to do.

Still, it _was_ just a moment of hesitation, so Nora could ignore that. Instead, she redoubled her efforts of keeping Port distracted, asking him questions about Beringels _and_ Nevermores possibly working together, prompting the professor to launch into a story about him observing the behavioral patterns of Grimm and how, despite their bestial nature, they proved surprisingly adept at coordinating and executing effective combination strategies. It was the kind of talk that Nora enjoyed hearing from Port, the way that he would use himself as an example with his stories to illustrate the lesson he wished to impart about effective Grimm combat tactics. Sure, some of the stories sounded farfetched, and Port’s lecture style tended to border on the longwinded, but Nora always appreciated that they always had a point… eventually. There _did_ lay some method to his madness if you were willing to pay attention, and even the most seemingly useless tidbits of information, like the asides Port would make about the wing span of the average Nevermore or Beringels’ hatred of wooden buildings, were part of a greater lesson the elder Huntsman was trying to impart on his students. Nora did her best to imitate Port’s lesson style, even if admittedly her own efforts were just as unsuccessful.

However, as the minutes passed and Port began to wrap up his explanation, Nora began to realize that Blake was running late. She had promised that she would be done in ten minutes, after all, but fifteen minutes later and there was still no sign of her arrival. Port was also showing signs of tiring and had repeatedly told Nora that he was planning on returning to his quarters, not-so-subtly hinting that the time for questioning was coming to an end. By the time that she spotted the Faunus sneak back into the classroom, Port was just about to wrap up his last story, and as he turned around to look for his briefcase, Nora _panicked_. Because Blake was _nearly_ there, inching towards the table to quietly deposit the briefcase back to where she originally filched it. And if Port caught her trying to return the briefcase, he would _definitely_ realize something was afoot.

So Nora improvised, as she was wont to do. And, like most things in Nora Valkyrie’s life, things spiraled from there.

\---0---

_Welcome to **Thunder Cats**!_

Cream Puff: nora?

Cream Puff: you rushed out after the ozpin talk pretty quickly

Thunder Thighs: Sorry!

Thunder Thighs: I figured we were gonna have to tell a really long story so I thought I would make some sandwiches for everyone to snack on

Thunder Thighs: Oh, I’m picking up some chocolate n’ candy for everyone too!

Thunder Thighs: I’m gonna go ask Glynda for some from her stash!

Cream Puff: wait, why does Glynda have candy in her office, and why would she give them to you

Cream Puff: …you know what, never mind

Cream Puff: look, we need to talk about what we tell everyone

Cream Puff: not sure i can improvise as well as you

Cream Puff: wasn’t really sure how to react when you called me out in the middle of returning Port’s briefcase

Thunder Thighs: He was about to turn around, Blakey!

Thunder Thighs: I figured it was better if Port saw you walking back with the briefcase instead of in the middle of putting it back on the table

Cream Puff: nora you didn’t really give me the chance to realize what was going on, you know

Cream Puff: honestly im shocked port bought that whole “blakey, are you ok?” thing

Cream Puff: no offense but your poker face and acting need work

Thunder Thighs: Says you! I think I did a great job. :smirking_face:

Cream Puff: …nora, the only person i know with a worst poker face is jaune. _jaune_. he’s like a :dog: and cant hide what he’s feeling at all

Thunder Thighs: Oof, that bad? I thought I was better at hiding stuff than Fearless Leader!

Cream Puff: …well, you’re marginally better, I’ll give you that.

Cream Puff: im just glad i managed to give ozpin and port a description of the “””thief”””.

Thunder Thighs: Not sure where you pulled that from, Blakey, but good job!

Thunder Thighs: Seriously though, why does our mystery assailant sound like someone from one of yours and Pyrrha’s fanfics?

Cream Puff: hey! she’s a real person! we fought her during that paladin incident!

Cream Puff: …i will admit, i did have some ideas about introducing a character with her aesthetic, but i haven’t found the right voice for her yet

Cream Puff: we could always introduce her and not let her talk, but we’ll see

Thunder Thighs: Seriously though, I know you weren’t focused on Ozpin and Port, but you had to see their eyes bulge out as you were describing her

Thunder Thighs: “half brown, half pink hair with white stripes, short, carries around an umbrella? What is she, harlequin ice cream?

Cream Puff: what the heck is harlequin ice cream

Thunder Thighs: It’s, uh

Thunder Thighs: Wait, gimme a sec, cheese is burning

_Someone is typing…_

Cream Puff: wait, if you’re making sandwiches…

Thunder Thighs: don’t worry, blakey, im making some tuna spread just for you and pyrrha, since i know she loves em too

Thunder Thighs: Strawberry jam on bread for ruby, grilled cheese for yang and jaune, peanut butter sandwiches for weissy and ren…

Cream Puff: wait, i thought you were allergic to peanuts

Thunder Thighs: Oh, I was _very_ careful not to get any on me.

Thunder Thighs: Weiss always tells me its bad when you eat it, and it’s fine to touch, and Ren is always reading these boring medical sites on his scroll about what I can and can’t eat, but you can never be too careful, right?

Thunder Thighs: Still, Weissy and Ren love ‘em, so I don’t mind a little peanut butter every now and then. It’s _so_ worth it when you see Weiss bite into her sandwich, or when Ren gets to eat the stuff, since I know he doesn’t for my benefit.

Thunder Thighs: …wait, you remembered that I had allergies to most nuts?

Thunder Thighs: Aww, Blake, I knew you cared!

Cream Puff: …i _do_ try to pay attention to everyone, i know

Cream Puff: i know i can be unreliable but im trying my best, alright?

Thunder Thighs: Oh, I _know_ that, Blakey.

Thunder Thighs: You’re so much like Weiss, y’know? You both try so hard to hide how much you care.

Cream Puff: …im sure you’re used to people being closed off emotionally, nora

Thunder Thighs: I guess I am!

Thunder Thighs: Which is why I appreciate you reaching out to me like this, Blake. You didn’t have to believe my story, you know?

Thunder Thighs: I know it must have sounded farfetched, all that conspiracy talk about Ozpin and Maidens and whatever…

Thunder Thighs: I don’t even know what it _means_. Heck, I’m even asking myself now if I actually saw it, or if I just made it up in my head.

_Someone is typing…_

Cream Puff: hey, nora?

Thunder Thighs: Yeah?

Cream Puff: i, uh, i have a confession to make

Cream Puff: you asked me earlier why i believed your story right?

Cream Puff: to be honest, i kind of get where you’re coming from

Cream Puff: i’m… i’m used to people not taking what im saying seriously

Cream Puff: growing up as a faunus, going on the protests, and seeing humans ignore our pleas for equality… it can be very disheartening

Cream Puff: and when the protests turned… violent, I was always trying to get anyone to listen to me, to get people to rein in the bloodthirst and focus on the struggle for equality

Cream Puff: someone i know… someone i _knew_ always pretended to listen to my concerns, but nothing _actually changed_. everything i said went in one ear and out the other

Cream Puff: even now, i worry that people think im just being paranoid, like when we found out the white fang were planning something, and it felt like everyone wasn’t taking it as seriously as me…

Cream Puff: i _know_ my team meant well, telling me to stop, but the irrational part of me screamed that they _didn’t_ believe me, that it was Adam all over again…

_Someone is typing…_

Thunder Thighs: I’m sorry to hear that, Blake.

Cream Puff: _im_ sorry for unloading this on you, Nora.

Cream Puff: its just… i noticed you’ve been holding back a lot of stuff you wanted to say lately, and i know ive been guilty of dismissing the stuff you say you being you

Cream Puff: more than anything, i didn’t _see_ anything for myself, so i figured it was better to trust what you saw. that’s why you were investigating, right? to get solid proof for what you think you saw

Cream Puff: and honestly, i _wanted_ to believe.

_Someone is typing…_

Cream Puff: …did you know why I hesitated to get that briefcase at first? Why it took so long to get back to you?

Thunder Thighs: …why?

Cream Puff: bc a part of me worried that you were either mistaken, or you were _lying_.

Cream Puff: Did you know that when I was looking for any info at all, anything about maidens or silver-eyes or anything that Ozpin could be hiding, I didn’t find _anything_ at all?

Cream Puff: for a moment i considered leaving you to port

Cream Puff: for a moment the part of me that grew up in a political organization that turned to terrorism screamed at me that i was being tricked and i should just cut my losses and let you take the fall

Cream Puff: i’ve been trying my best to stop thinking like that, to open to everyone, to trust all of you… to not run away…

_Someone is typing…_

Thunder Thighs: Blake…

Thunder Thighs: That’s the thing about habits. They’re difficult to form _and_ break.

Thunder Thighs: No one’s blaming you for thinking like that every now and then. That was a huge part of your childhood. It takes time to unlearn these things.

Thunder Thighs: And if people blame you for the stuff that was drilled in your head as a kid, I’m gonna break their legs until they realize they should stop blaming the victims and focus on the people who actually did something wrong!

_Someone is typing…_

Cream Puff: …heh.

Cream Puff: i wish i was as strong as you.

Cream Puff: here i am admitting that i don’t believe your story and you’re giving me a pet talk

Thunder Thighs: _Oh_ , Blake. It’s alright.

Thunder Thighs: I kind of figured you were humoring me from the start. It’s alright.

Thunder Thighs: I’m used to people not taking me seriously, y’know. I’m a tough girl, I can take it.

Cream Puff: _you shouldn’t have to_

Cream Puff: you should at least be able to confide in ren about something like this

Thunder Thighs: Ren has his own issues to deal with.

Thunder Thighs: I don’t want to burden him with my own.

Thunder Thighs: Besides, he helps me out, in his own way. We may not be able to talk about these things, but I know we understand each other, even without talking.

Thunder Thighs: Plus, I’ve got the rest of you guys.

_Someone is typing…_

Thunder Thighs: Look, you can say all you want that you wanted to leave me behind, that you didn’t believe me or whatever, but you came back, didn’t you?

Cream Puff: yeah, but what if i do it again? what if i run away and don’t come back?

Thunder Thighs: Then your friends will drag you back, again and again, until you’re in a better place

Thunder Thighs: You’d be surprised how good it feels to just have a friend listen to your problems.

Cream Puff: probably… yeah, i can imagine

Thunder Thighs: …do you know how great it felt when you approached me and told me you wanted to help?

Thunder Thighs: To me, it didn’t matter that there was the chance you were just humoring me, because you _still came to help me_.

Thunder Thighs: The great thing about telling stories is knowing someone is _listening_. And you definitely are. You remembered me having allergies, after all.

Thunder Thighs: It’s why I always listen to Port, you know?

Cream Puff: wait

Cream Puff: you do?

Cream Puff: no offense but uh

Thunder Thighs: Oh, I know. He can be boring, and a bit inappropriate at times, but I still appreciate his stories.

Thunder Thighs: See, he’s sharing something of himself to us, so _someone_ should at least try to pay attention to him.

Thunder Thighs: I know it means much to him that I listen, and I want you to know it meant much to me that you listened to my story and that you eventually came back.

Thunder Thighs: …so thanks, Blake.

Thunder Thighs: Thanks for believing in me, even if I probably just imagined the whole thing and confused it for what I saw in there.

Thunder Thighs: I mean, who knows, right? I was probably in that chat for like, thirty seconds tops. No way they’d let me stay around that chat for too long, not when Professor Greene is apparently this hacking whiz that Ruby apparently fights with regularly about scroll stuff.

Thunder Thighs: Maybe I _did_ imagine it. Or maybe there’s some truth to it. Who knows? Ren says I get loopy and see things nobody else can see when I drink coffee, and I trust Ren not to lie to me.

Thunder Thighs: All I can do is keep my eyes open and find proof of it one day.

Thunder Thighs: And hey, at the very least, we have a funny story we can tell the others. That has to count for something, right?

Cream Puff: wait, so that’s what we’re going with?

Thunder Thighs: Might as well tell everyone the truth! That’s why I made the sandwiches and the chocolate. We might as well have a snack as we tell them the _hilarious_ story of the time Nora and Blake tried to steal something from Professor Port.

Cream Puff: …heh. i cant wait to see the look on their faces then.

Thunder Thighs: Right?! That’s the best part of telling stories, you know!

Cream Puff: shocking our friends with an unbelievable but true story?

Thunder Thighs: Entertaining the people nearest and dearest to us!

Cream Puff: yeah… yeah, that makes sense.

Cream Puff: look, do you need me to bring everyone to the common room?

Cream Puff: im sure you can carry all that food you prepared for everyone, but i don’t want to inconvenience you

Thunder Thighs: Hey, I don’t work out for nothing, you know!

Thunder Thighs: But yeah, bring everyone here, Blakey. We’ve got a lot of explaining to do!

\---0---

Nora cast a look at the tray of sandwiches she made, doing her best to ignore the utter mess she left in the common room kitchen. Sure, her slices of bread were uneven, and they didn’t look neat and clean the way Jaune and Ren’s sandwiches looked, and _maybe_ she overdid it on the jam for Ruby’s sandwich and the edge of the grilled cheese sandwiches were slightly burnt, and maybe she accidentally added a little bit too much peanut butter on Weiss and Ren’s sandwich since they usually never got to eat it, but that was fine, wasn’t it?

Nora wiped the sweat of her brow and fanned herself, surveying the utter mess she left in the kitchen, wondering if perhaps she could have _tried_ to be a bit more careful, but really, wasn’t it better this way? At least she could recruit her friends to help clean up the kitchen and the pantry. She didn’t even mind the stains of jam and peanut butter that got on her apron, even if the mess on her clothes reminded her of the time she spilled punch on herself during the dance (and wasn’t _that_ another funny story, in retrospect?) because at least she could laugh about it and all the other silly things that happened today with her friends and loved ones. And really, wasn’t this just another story they could look back on in the future, something to laugh about in retrospect?

She could almost imagine it: the eight of them, in some dinner table somewhere in Remnant, huddled around a warm meal, exchanging stories of their travels and misadventures, exchanging barbs and jabs and jokes and maybe a little bit of flirting if everyone was feeling saucy, and Nora would hug everyone in sight, from Weiss who would try to resist at first but acquiesce eventually, to Ruby and Yang who would hug her back as fiercely as they could manage, to Jaune who would chuckle nervously before his protective brother instincts would kick in, to Blake who at that point had hopefully overcome her aversion to physical contact, to Pyrrha whose warmth and motherly aura always comforted Nora, to Ren, who finally, _finally_ could find it in himself to open up about his feelings. They would be laughing and crying in joy and their food would go cold because they would spend a long time just _talking_ , living their lives as Huntsmen and Huntresses as best they could, catching up with each other’s lives, looking back at the silly incidents like the dance or that time Nora and Blake tried to steal from Port with a fondness and warmth that they would take with them for the rest of their days.

Yes, Nora could imagine it with a clarity that rivalled the most vivid of dreams that came to her, and she felt her eyes water a bit. _If nothing else,_ she thought, _I hope_ this _story comes true. The rest can be my daydreams and delusions, but please, if there is a higher power out there, at least let this one thing I’ve imagined come true._

But for now, it was time for her to focus on reality and stop daydreaming. She brought her tray of sandwiches, as well as the candy she had sourced from Glynda, to the common room, where her friends were staring at her with confused looks in their faces, no doubt wondering what Nora was planning. Blake was casting her a wry smile, as if telling her that the stage was hers, and that everyone was ready to _listen_ to her now.

And so, Nora Valkyrie sighed deeply and began to speak.

“Oh, man, have I got a story for you guys…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates have slowed down because I’m working on my Master’s. Press F to pay respects. No clue when I’ll find the energy to write a new chapter, but I’ll do my best not to let this die. I still have subplots I need to pay off, after all! This is not the last time we’ll get to see Jaune and Yang practicing how to play the guitar, and I still need to keep up the ASMR gag! Besides, one must wonder if Nora actually saw a legitimate conversation between the faculty… really makes you think…
> 
> Anyway, are there any minor or background gags you’re enjoying so far in the fic? Tell me what you think in the reviews so I know what people wanna see more of!


	12. Volume 2.25 (Friday): Long story short, but TIL what a tampon is!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The previous Nora chapter had some, quite frankly, kind of sad and depressing themes interwoven in it, seeing as this is RWBY and all, and my central characters for that chapter were Nora and Blake. Is it any surprise that it dealt with some heavy themes, even if it was subtext? Sorry ‘bout that. Look, we all saw V8, we know the show’s capable of some dark stuff.
> 
> To make up for that, have a Weiss and Jaune chapter.

For as long as she could remember, Weiss was fond of dogs.

No, scratch that – she _loved_ dogs.

Unlike her teammate Blake, who always claimed that dogs were shifty creatures, always plotting something behind those blank smiles of theirs, waiting for the right moment to strike, Weiss believed that dogs were _utterly_ incapable of malice. How could they, when they let out such soft _groans_ of content as you ran your hands across their fur, scratching their chins, giving them belly rubs, and patting their heads as a reward for good behavior?

Plus, unlike cats, dogs never abandoned you, even if you tossed a frisbee into the distance, prompting them to dash away to retrieve them for you. Cats did their own thing, and only came back to you when it was convenient for them, but dogs? No matter what happened, come hell or high water, they always stayed by your side, each disappearance only temporary since they always _came back,_ carrying the lost frisbee in their mouth, placing it on your feet, their tails wagging to and fro because they knew they did a _good job_ and was going to be rewarded with treats and head pats. Weiss also liked that they were predictable creatures, their loyalty easy to manage as long as you gave them dog treats to them every time they acted like good boys.

Dogs, after all, were simple creatures, very much unlike people, who were complicated, messy, and hard to manage.

Weiss let out a smile at the thought, meditating on the joys of taking care of dogs as Zwei dashed back to her side, frisbee in his mouth. The two were spending the pleasant end-of-the-weekday afternoon at the Beacon courtyards, with Weiss sitting on the grass under the shade of one of the Beacon courtyard’s trees. She was watching Zwei run around the Beacon courtyard, taking the time to scan videos and photos on her scroll whenever Zwei wandered off on some other adventure, while Zwei’s supposed owners, Ruby and Yang, were off in the distance, Yang with a guitar on her as she attempted to play some rudimentary chords and Ruby trying her best to weather the storm. (Even Weiss could tell that Yang was not yet at the level that she was doing could be called _music_ , but Yang _did_ just start learning to play yesterday.)

Zwei, meanwhile, spent most of the afternoon running around the courtyard, chasing small insects, as well as looking for the most interesting patch of grass he could find. He would stop, every so often, sniffing the ground, and Weiss would break out into a smile every time Zwei did so, trying to imagine what thoughts ran in the pupper’s head as he pawed on a particular spot. Perhaps he found some secret treasure, buried underneath? Every now and then, to break up the monotony, Weiss would toss a frisbee at Zwei’s direction, giving the corgi some exercise as he would dash towards the object at lightning-fast speeds that rivaled his owners, before returning with the toy.

Weiss’ thoughts were interrupted by a small whimper from the corgi, who had deposited the frisbee at her feet and was wagging his tail at her, expecting something else from the heiress, prompting Weiss to decide that it was perhaps time for something different. Weiss looked at her collection of Zwei toys and treats, looking for the best toy for te dog to play with, and eventually settled on the rubber ball that Ruby had lent her (t _his is his_ actual _chew toy_ , Ruby reminded her, _so use it in case Zwei starts messing with Blake again_ ) to use for Zwei’s Playtime with Weiss, as mandated by the Zwei accords.

(As per the Accords, drafted by one Jaune Arc, notarized by one of the Schnee Family lawyers, signed by both teams RWBY and JNPR, and with one Professor (Doctor!) Bartholomew Oobleck as a witness, Zwei was due _at least_ an hour of dedicated Weiss bonding time per week, maximum, due to fears from her legal owners, one Ruby Rose and one Yang Xiao Long, that Weiss would try and somehow subvert Zwei to her side. It was all pure hogwash, Weiss would insist, but as she took back the rubber ball from Zwei, enjoying the mesmerized look that Zwei was casting on the chew toy that Weiss was dangling in front of him like a piece of meat, Weiss started thinking if there was a loophole around the legal document that Jaune had drafted on Ruby’s insistence. _Honestly_ , Weiss complained in her head, _why was that_ dunce _such a_ pushover _for that_ dolt _?_ )

Playtime with Zwei was one of the few bright spots of this, quite frankly, miserable week they were all enduring, what with them being cooped up in their dorms and very few classes to distract them from the events of the Breach, and she had been looking forward to it ever since they officially legalized the Zwei Accords. (Incidentally, the Accords were an agreement between the two student teams and Beacon, allowing the corgi to stay within school premises as long as someone from the two teams, as well as Doctor Oobleck, was ensuring that the dog was being taken care of at all times.) Weiss was surprised that Glynda had even allowed it, the Combat professor and Deputy Headmistress of the academy not bothering to hide her disdain for what she had termed the ‘mangy beast’ (a description that Blake wholeheartedly agreed with), but what could she do if even Ozpin allowed it?

Which led to the current situation: Weiss enjoying her first ever Playtime with Zwei.

(Never mind that there was _someone_ missing, someone who had promised to be there to take care of Zwei… Weiss did her best to suppress the voice in her heart, screaming _where_ is _he?!)_

She tossed the rubber ball in the air and marveled as Zwei caught it mid-air, landing on his feet and showing off the ball in his mouth, his tail wagging furiously. Weiss supposed that part of why she _liked_ these playtimes with Zwei was that she never really got the chance to have a pet growing up, unless you counted the animals that her mother kept caged up like trophies for the Schnee Manor, and even so, they never were truly _free_ , not unlike Zwei, enjoying the freedom afforded to him by the Beacon courtyards, who was looking at her now with an expectant look on his face, waiting for the treat that Weiss would inevitably produce every time he did something good. Weiss chuckled at that. It was just so _easy_ , receiving love and affection from Zwei. At least Zwei was always there for her and didn’t disappear to Dust knows where when they had agreed to meet after lunch! Was it any surprise that one sad look from Zwei made her give up the treats she was saving for later?

(Honestly, so what if Weiss was such a pushover for Zwei?)

Off in the distance, Yang started singing, trying to pair her… unique voice with her clumsy attempts at playing the guitar, and Weiss could see Ruby visibly trying not to laugh or grimace at what Yang considered music. At the very least, Weiss mused, Yang certainly seemed to enjoy herself, smirking at the way Ruby desperately tried to pretend she was enjoying Yang’s atrocious performance, and Weiss certainly couldn’t fault Yang for trying to better herself and work on a weakness of hers. But bless her, Yang was just not cut out to be a singer. For Dust’s sake, she was almost as bad as _Jaune_!

 _Speaking of_ , Weiss thought, recalling the other blonde she was friends with, _we were supposed to meet here an hour ago!_

Weiss didn’t like to dwell on things too much, and while playing with Zwei certainly helped her take her mind off things, it had been an hour and a certain someone _still_ hadn’t shown up, despite the plans they had made earlier in the week. As per the Accords, Blake had, citing “philosophical differences”, turned over her part of the duties and responsibilities to care for Zwei to team JNPR, and Jaune was all too happy to care for the dog, the two forming a fast friendship almost as soon as Ruby introduced the corgi to their sister team. Was it any surprise that team JNPR immediately agreed to allowing the dog to stay over at their dorms when necessary?

Still, their agreement meant that Jaune promised to help Weiss watch over Zwei during her Playtime hours, as well as discuss a couple of other things they really needed to talk about, a promise that Jaune seemed to be determined to break _right now_. While she certainly enjoyed the presence of the corgi by her side, Weiss could admit that it was a little lonely, spending time with Zwei alone. Even Yang had Ruby with her as she practiced non-stop with that blasted guitar of hers, and Ruby even humored her big sister’s atrocious playing, all the while Weiss was all alone! Heck, at this point, Weiss could admit that she was _slightly_ jealous that Yang and Ruby were spending time together, and she could even admit that it was kind of lonely, just watching out for Zwei by herself! It wasn’t like she could ask the rest of Jaune’s team for help either, as they had all mysteriously disappeared, along with Blake, and Ren, her usually reliable coffee and tea partner, mentioned that he had ‘other plans!’

By her side, Zwei whimpered, as if sensing his dog-sitter’s melancholy. He placed the rubber ball by Weiss’ side and began nuzzling his head at Weiss’ side, and Weiss, her mind hazy with a vague annoyance she couldn’t put her finger on, responded by scratching the back of his ears, thinking to herself, _at the very least, dogs won’t leave me alone_.

\---0---

_Welcome to **White Knight**!_

Snow Angel: Jaune, where the heck are you?!

Snow Angel: We were supposed to meet today so you could teach me how your recording set-up works!

_Someone is typing…_

Sir Dork Knight: huh?

Sir Dork Knight: wait what

Sir Dork Knight: i thought we were doin the asmr stuff after dinner, coulda sworn i asked someone to tell you

Snow Angel: _No,_ you _dunce_.

Snow Angel: We agreed to meet after lunch to do a practice recording, after Playtime with Zwei!

Sir Dork Knight: [edited]

Snow Angel: What was that?

Sir Dork Knight: no, no, its nothing

Sir Dork Knight: oh also

Sir Dork Knight: i thought playtime w zwei kicked in next week

Sir Dork Knight: werent you going to contest some of the wording in the Accords?

Snow Angel: Well, _yes_ , but I’ve been looking forward to some personal time with Zwei all week, and I will _not_ be denied his adorableness. Not by a piece of paper!

Sir Dork Knight: o…kay?

Snow Angel: Besides, that’s not the important matter here! We agreed to start preparing for the debut of _White Knight Productions_ today!

Snow Angel: How am I supposed to learn the proper set-up for recording these videos if you don’t teach me?!

Snow Angel: Are we not supposed to be partners here?

Sir Dork Knight: uhhh we are im p sure

Sir Dork Knight: besides, we can do all the recording and practice stuff later

Sir Dork Knight: i know youve been so excited all week but a few more hours cant hurt, right?

Snow Angel: What could be _so_ important that you’d push back on our meeting, anyway?

Sir Dork Knight: uhhhh

Sir Dork Knight: look did you forget

Sir Dork Knight: today’s food run day so me and ren are heading to vale to stock up on food and stuff

Snow Angel: “Ren and I.”

Sir Dork Knight: …me and ren :stuck_out_tongue:

Snow Angel: Oh, you _insufferable little-_ [edited]

Sir Dork Knight: uhh you ok there weiss

Snow Angel: No, no, I promised Ruby and your teammates I would try and be more civil. Nora and Ren are on my case as it is.

Snow Angel: Even _Blake_ is telling me I’m too harsh towards you, and she’s the one who keeps changing your nickname in chat to :dog: when nobody is looking.

Sir Dork Knight: dw i already took away forced nickname changes in the main chat

Sir Dork Knight: so you wont wake up anytime soon to yang changing your name to something mean

Sir Dork Knight: …for the record, i genuinely didn’t realize it was bothering you

Sir Dork Knight: didnt even know bleiss meant anything

Snow Angel: It doesn’t! I’m not sure where Yang dreamt _that_ silly concept up!

Snow Angel: You will _never_ find me dressing up in black and swearing like a sailor like I’m going through a dust-damned rebellious phase!

Sir Dork Knight: might be a fun costume party get-up though

Snow Angel: If you think for _one_ second that I’m going to be wasting any Lien on buying that outrageously terrible outfit Blake posted…

Sir Dork Knight: speaking of buying stuff did you give ruby a list of the stuff you need

Snow Angel: …oh.

Snow Angel: I will admit, I _completely_ forgot about that.

Sir Dork Knight: lmao

Sir Dork Knight: don’t tell me you were so excited to record asmr that it slipped your mind

\---0---

(She _was_ , but there was no way Weiss was telling Jaune _that_.)

\---0---

Snow Angel: Jaune, focus!

Snow Angel: I’ll make sure to pass along my shopping list to Ruby or Ren later!

Sir Dork Knight: alright alright

Sir Dork Knight: look, i think sun and neptune are planning on inviting themselves along on this trip ever since sun found out we do this so uh

Sir Dork Knight: might take us a while to get back

Snow Angel: Do try to make sure your friend doesn’t commit any crimes along the way.

Sir Dork Knight: kinda feel that’s a bit discriminatory, but w/e

Sir Dork Knight: ill make sure to pass the message along.

Sir Dork Knight: no message for neptune? hes been asking about you

Snow Angel: _Jaune…_

Sir Dork Knight: ok, ok!

Sir Dork Knight: Wouldn’t hurt for you to stop giving him the cold shoulder, you know.

Snow Angel: …just tell me what time you’re getting back.

Sir Dork Knight: uh, maybe we’ll get back after dinner?

Sir Dork Knight: so uh, you don’t need to wait up for me

_Someone is typing…_

Snow Angel: Wait! But what about Zwei!

Snow Angel: The poor thing’s been so lonely without you!

Sir Dork Knight: aww

Sir Dork Knight: im sure zwei can last one day without me

Snow Angel: [edited]

Sir Dork Knight: what was that

Snow Angel: Nothing.

Snow Angel: I accidentally sent the wrong message to this chat.

Sir Dork Knight: Oh, ok. Well, see you later, Weiss! Don’t wait up!

Snow Angel: …of course. Why in the world would I wait up for you? Don’t flatter yourself.

Sir Dork Knight: hahahahahaha

Sir Dork Knight: ofc

Sir Dork Knight: not gonna make _that_ mistake ever again :wink:

\---0---

(Perhaps it didn’t need to be said, but if Zwei could last one day, then Weiss certainly could.)

Weiss uttered a silent apology for using Zwei’s name carelessly, a vain attempt to try and get Jaune to reconsider his plans. She sighed, massaging the temples of her head, a headache beginning to develop thanks to annoyance at how most of her plans for the day were effectively shot to hell.

Sure, it wasn’t Jaune’s fault per se – it wasn’t like Weiss was still living in Atlas, where everything she would ever need could be obtained at the snap of a finger, and Jaune wasn’t one of her servants, someone she expected to attend to her every little need. Sure, she had been looking forward to their little channel production, an opportunity for her to use her voice for something _outside_ SDC propaganda and whatever delusions of grandeur her father had when he began having her train her singing voice, but Jaune, much like Zwei, was free to spend his time as he wished, and Weiss had no right to force him otherwise. And sure, Weiss was trying her best to suppress a vague feeling on unease that had been troubling her all day, but again, that wasn’t Jaune’s, or any of their other friends’, problem. Loneliness was part and parcel of her existence, and Pyrrha had once told her that everyone was entitled to their own sorrow. It didn’t mean everyone else was obligated to stick around and make her feel better about herself.

(Weiss often cursed the complexities of the heart, as well as just how _messy_ emotions were. Why couldn’t things be more simple _?_ )

Still, when they had their little… reconciliation (a word that Weiss hesitated to use, but had no other alternative for) and Weiss discovered Jaune’s little secret, it awoke in her an unusual feeling, bubbling in her chest. It was the same feeling that engulfed her when she first laid her eyes on Zwei, as if something was unlocked in her heart, something she had kept caged for fear of offending her father or displeasing her mother. She had never once considered taking care of a dog, or recording things for strangers on the internet, but the mere _idea_ of it filled her with glee, giving her the same sense of liberation she felt when she made the decision to study at Beacon instead of Atlas. They were rare moments, Weiss understood, that helped combat the loneliness that gnawed at her heart, these moments where she felt that all her guilt about feeling sorry for herself and the loneliness that she always tried to suppress were… still there, but much more manageable.

(Much, much later, Blake and Yang would joke about it being a rebellious phase, a notion that Weiss would have a hard time refuting.)

Off to the corner, Weiss observed Yang, who had somehow transformed the basic four chord progression most songs had into some nightmarish cacophony of sounds and noises that she was sure a guitar was physically incapable of producing. It had gotten to the point that Zwei had curled up on her lap, trying desperately to burrow deeper into Weiss’ embrace to escape the aural assault that Yang was inflicting on his poor eardrums, and honestly, Weiss couldn’t blame him, seeing as Yang was probably producing sounds that her ears couldn’t pick up, judging from the way Zwei was reacting. Weiss could have sworn that she saw a couple of Faunus students run away from the general vicinity too, as well as a flocks of birds (was that a dust-damned _raven_ flying away, looking as if it was disgusted?) flying away from the courtyard. At least Yang seemed to be having fun?

(Weiss was also confused about how Ruby was surviving the noise, being in close proximity to Yang, but everything made sense later when she discovered that Ruby had invested in a pair of wireless earphones precisely for this purpose.)

A part of Weiss was tempted to take a video of Yang’s attempts at playing her instrument, hoping to send it to Jaune and convince him to teach her instead, but stopped herself before she pressed the record button. Really, what good would it do? It wasn’t like Jaune would rush to her side, or Yang’s for that matter, just because she was a little anxious of having nothing to do, nor to help Yang out with her atrocious musical skills. After all, Yang had had only one day of tutelage under Jaune, and nobody improved overnight. Yang certainly couldn’t be expected to be an expert in a day. Weiss had to remind herself, too, that Jaune wasn’t a dog, and she couldn’t just throw a frisbee in his general direction and expect him to rush back to her side like Zwei always did, despite Blake’s insistence otherwise.

People, after all, were complex, messy, and hard to manage. Not like dogs. Dogs were _simple_.

(A part of her knew that perhaps, in the past, he would have done so, lovesick fool that he was, but Weiss admonished herself for ever considering taking advantage of his feelings like that. Despite their rocky past, despite how complex their relationship had gotten at this point, despite all the awkwardness between the two of them, it wasn’t like Weiss ever set out to deliberately mislead or take advantage of him. He was a friend, damn it, warts and all!)

Still, with all her plans for the afternoon pretty much evaporating into thin air, Weiss had to do _something_. As Zwei, tired out by the constant running, settled by Weiss’ side, enjoying the way that Weiss absentmindedly rubbed the dog’s head as she read her group chats, while Yang and Ruby were evidently packing it up, probably to move elsewhere and do whatever it is the two sisters did in their spare time, Weiss started thinking about how to pass the time until Jaune could come back…

\---0---

_Welcome to **Team RRAYNNBW**!_

_Queen of the Castle uploaded a photo!_

Sunny Little Dragon: oof

Sunny Little Dragon: blake are you ok

Cereal Girl: Oh, Yang, you worry too much.

Queen of the Castle: Never fear, Yang, Pyrrha and I made sure to go easy on Blakey!

Ren-sensei: Blake, if you need a pick-me-up, I have a tumbler of my newest herbal shake sitting in the pantry refrigerator.

Ren-sensei: …pick-me-up. What a strange phrase.

Snow Angel: Ren, focus!

Snow Angel: Did you get the list I sent you?

Ren-sensei: Yes, Weiss.

Ren-sensei: Ah, Weiss, Neptune is asking me to pass along a message…

Snow Angel: _No_.

Ren-sensei: Understood.

Sunny Little Dragon: oh hey you’re on the air bus to Vale, right? hows VB holding up?

Cereal Girl: Oh dear. Did Jaune pack his motion sickness medicine?

Ren-sensei: He is holding up, although Sun is not making things easy for him

Ren-sensei: …I kind of regret not letting Neptune manage him for the duration of this trip. Sun is very, ah, rambunctious, I believe is the right word to describe it.

Ren-sensei: Jaune is hunched over at the back, and Sun is trying to open the windows, despite the looks the pilot is throwing at him.

Queen of the Castle: Watch out for the projectile vomit, Ren!

Snow Angel: Nora, that’s disgusting!

Snow Angel: Anyway, Pyrrha, Nora, are you three still at the gym?

Cereal Girl: We are, actually. Now that we’ve made sure to put Blake through the paces, we can focus on our own workout while Blake rests.

RedLikeStrawberries: oh no

RedLikeStrawberries: is it a good idea to just leave blake there on the floor all collapsed

Queen of the Castle: Oh, she’ll be _fine_.

Queen of the Caste: Weissy, you wanna come with? Pyrrha and I were thinking of doing some practice recording workout videos, and we could use a second opinion.

Snow Angel: …no thanks. I’d rather not have a repeat of the last time I went with you.

Queen of the Castle: I promise I’ll go easy this time!

Queen of the Castle: …and if I don’t, I’ll carry you back to the dorms! I’ll even princess carry you!

Snow Angel: Please don’t.

Snow Angel: Just… go have fun, you three. Good luck with your practice recording. I’ll… do some other things this afternoon, I suppose.

Cereal Girl: Oh.

Cereal Girl: Weiss, you were supposed to practice recording things with Jaune today, weren’t you?

Snow Angel: Yes, we were. What about it?

Cereal Girl: I’m afraid I may have forgotten to tell you…

Cereal Girl: Jaune was only able to reserve the recording room for later tonight, instead of the afternoon slot you two originally discussed.

Cereal Girl: Which is why he decided to postpone your meeting to after dinner. He stayed up late last night working on the paperwork and asked me to pass along the message…

Cereal Girl: I’m sorry!

Cereal Girl: It must have slipped my mind with all the excitement today, seeing as Blake agreed to work out with us.

Sunny Little Dragon: speaking of, how _did_ you get her to agree

Sunny Little Dragon: i keep asking her to join me but she always says shes too busy

Queen of the Castle: Oh, we have our ways~

Queen of the Castle: Besides, Blake had some rare free time today!

Sunny Little Dragon: in the first place, i didnt think Blake was the type who liked working out

Cereal Girl: If it is any consolation, Yang, I don’t think Blake _likes_ it, per se.

Cereal Girl: She has her reasons, but they’re a bit too complicated to explain at the moment…

Queen of the Castle: Aww, don’t overthink it, Yang. Blake felt like joining us today is all. Sometimes, it’s hard to explain why we do things, y’know?

Ren-sensei: The heart is a lockbox full of mysteries, after all. Our emotions and motivations are complicated beasts, difficult to tame and almost impossible to manage cleanly.

Sunny Little Dragon: oooh is that another one of those mistralian koans

Ren-sensei: …no, Yang. Not everything I say is a koan.

Ren-sensei: And quite frankly, it is very discriminatory of you to say so.

Sunny Little Dragon: oh shoot sorry

Sunny Little Dragon: didn’t mean to offend you

Ren-sensei: Ah.

Ren-sensei: I believe this is the part where I mention that I am joking?

Sunny Little Dragon: pfft what

Queen of the Castle: That was a really bad joke, Ren!

Ren-sensei: My apologies. An upperclassman suggested that I could make jokes about being from Mistral as a way to… ‘break the ice’, as it were.

RedLikeStrawberries: ren idt you should be getting humor advice from fox

RedLikeStrawberries: i like him but his jokes can get too mean sometimes

RedLikeStrawberries: Oh, and Sun sent me a message, asking if Blake needs anything since he heard she was working out with Pyrrha and Nora today.

RedLikeStrawberries: Can you pass it along to Blake?

 _Someone is typing_ …

Cereal Girl: Oh dear.

_Cereal Girl uploaded a photo!_

RedLikeStrawberries: wait idgi

RedLikeStrawberries: why does blake have her middle finger up

Sunny Little Dragon: ill tell you when your older

Cereal Girl: Oh, and Blake says to add the caption “Mind your own business.”

Cereal Girl: Also, Jaune, Ren, Blake has asked that you don’t let Sun see her shopping list.

Ren-sensei: I’ll make sure to pass the message along once Jaune has stopped evacuating the contents of stomach.

Ren-sensei: Also, Weiss, Neptune is insisting on me getting you to respond. What exactly happened between you two?

Queen of the Castle: Yeah, Weissy, I thought you and Neptune were cool.

Sunny Little Dragon: o ho ho

Sunny Little Dragon: trouble in paradise? lover’s quarrel?

Sunny Little Dragon: why doncha lay your love problems on me? aunty yang is here to listen

Snow Angel: Yang, first of all, Ruby’s told me _your_ dating history, or lack thereof, and believe me, I don’t really trust _your_ advice on romantic relationships.

Sunny Little Dragon: _excuse me??? ruby???_

Queen of the Castle: She got you there, Yang.

Cereal Girl: I do remember that night out still, you know.

Queen of the Castle: Three-drink Yang strikes again!

Sunny Little Dragon: you will never let me live that down huh

Snow Angel: Also, why are you all assuming that Neptune and I are in a relationship? It was _one_ dance. Besides, he turned me down when I asked him, remember?

RedLikeStrawberries: didn’t he end up joining you by the end, though?

Snow Angel: Well, _yes_ , but even so, one date does not make us an item, no matter what Yang may insinuate.

Sunny Little Dragon: _im_ just surprised you seemed to have gotten over him rly quickly since you were rly into him before the dance

Snow Angel: I was _not!_

Queen of the Castle: You kinda were, Weissy

Cereal Girl: It is very hard not to notice these things, Weiss.

RedLikeStrawberries: weiss, even i could tell what was going on, and i spent most of the party by the punch bowl

Snow Angel: You are all overcomplicating things.

Snow Angel: My relationship with Neptune is _very_ simple.

Snow Angel: I asked him to the dance, he turned me down.

Snow Angel: We spent some time together during the dance itself.

Snow Angel: Nothing more, nothing less. See? Simple. Nothing as messy or scandalous as you are all implying.

Snow Angel: _Nothing happened_. I simply do not want to talk to him right now.

Sunny Little Dragon: idk weissy, im no blake but even i can smell if something’s fishy

Cereal Girl: As Blake is unavailable at the moment, I feel I must point out that this is bordering on discriminatory, yang.

Sunny Little Dragon: frick i didn’t even mean to make it a pun

Snow Angel: Well, think of it what you will! Allow me to make it as simple as possible! There is _nothing_ happening between me and Neptune!

RedLikeStrawberries: ………. “neptune and I.”

Snow Angel: _RUBY ROSE YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT_

RedLikeStrawberries: totally worth it

Sunny Little Dragon: well idk abt anyone else but im sure theres a story here

Sunny Little Dragon: but if weiss isnt telling then i guess theres nothing we can do

Queen of the Castle: Oh, Weiss will tell us when she’s ready. We can wait!

Snow Angel: Then I fear you may have to wait a long time, as I have made things as clear and simple as I possibly can!

Cereal Girl: If you say so, Weiss.

_Someone is typing…_

RedLikeStrawberries: wait

RedLikeStrawberries: i just got the finger thing now

RedLikeStrawberries: language, blake!!!

\---0---

It was moments like this that solidified why Weiss preferred dogs to people.

How many times did she have to explain it before her friends got it in their heads that they were overthinking her and Neptune? Neptune could cry and complain and run to all of her friends to get them on his side, but Weiss had made things perfectly clear, that night when the dance was winding down: _there was nothing between them_. Weiss had _nothing_ against Neptune. He was a perfectly acceptable person, someone Weiss wouldn’t mind being as her friend, but _that was it_. Nothing more, nothing less. Weiss was beginning to sympathize with Blake, who was experiencing a hard time getting Sun to understand that very same point!

So engrossed was Weiss in the conversation happening in their chat that she didn’t realize that she had been sitting there for almost half an hour, just… thinking and staring at her scroll. By her side, Zwei has fallen asleep, tired from his afternoon activities, and was now snoring in rhythm to the soft midyear winds blowing through the Beacon courtyard. The shade from the tree they were under protected them from the heat, allowing Weiss a modicum of peace and comfort, and she could just zone out and not _think_ , a rare comfort for her considering the tumultuous chaos she was starting to feel build up in her chest. She hated it, the way that her own emotions were just so messy and confused. And all because she was reminded of Neptune!

Sure, so a part of her _was_ still annoyed at the boy once she figured out why Neptune turned her down in the first place. After Neptune joined her for the dance, Weiss was over the moon, but a lot of the celebratory mood was extinguished when Neptune admitted _why_ he had turned him down in the first place, and, quite frankly, forced a lot of things in Weiss’ perspective, and what she found at the other end of that introspection, admittedly, put her in a bad mood, a lot of it centered around her recent relationship with one Jaune Arc.

(What a dust-damned _stupid_ reason to turn her down to the dance, she would complain to nobody in particular. This was all because _he couldn’t dance_?)

In Weiss’ mind, she had turned down Jaune to the dance for a few good reasons. One, it was obvious that Pyrrha was interested in him, and while Weiss didn’t exactly understand _why_ Pyrrha was interested in Jaune, she also wasn’t the type to get in the way of her friends’ romantic interests.

(It did not need to be said that Weiss didn’t exactly have a _lot_ of friends, growing up, but even she knew that much about interpersonal relationships.)

Two, Jaune was just _so persistent_ that it wasn’t charming. Sure, so Weiss could have put her feet down from the start and told Jaune, in no uncertain terms, that she wasn’t interested in his clumsy advances, and sure, she could admit that she was a master at sending mixed messages, and _maybe_ Jaune misunderstood a few jokes that implied interest from her part, but that was no excuse for him being such a _pest_.

(In retrospect, the fact that, all things considered, Jaune didn’t go as far as to hound or harass her the way _some_ other suitors back in Atlas did was a relief, because at least Jaune stopped as soon as he realized he was making Weiss uncomfortable. But still, how anyone could confuse _tall, blond and scraggly_ as a compliment boggled the mind. Was Jaune _that_ starved for compliments in his daily life?)

Three, while she didn’t _hate_ Jaune all that much, all things considered, she just wasn’t _interested_ in romance at the moment. At the end of the day, Weiss’ goal was in Beacon was to find herself, to grow outside the shadow of the Schnee family and to improve her skills, allowing her some form of independence and the ability to stand on her own two feet. Sure, she had been dragging her skills on practicing some of her skills – she had gone a long way in developing most of her skills with the family semblance, especially with things like Time Dilation, but Summoning proved impossible for her still – but it was still one of her focuses, and romance just wasn’t on the table.

(Besides, even _if_ she entertained the notion of getting into a romance with anyone, she certainly didn’t want it to be with _Jaune_ , of all people, since they would just distract each other from their mutual goals of getting better. After all, not even Weiss was blind to the fact that Jaune was training desperately to catch up to all his friends, after all.)

At the end of the day, Weiss realized that what irritated her about the entire ordeal was that, instead of being able to admit to these things, instead of being _honest_ to herself and to her friends, she had instead dismissed Jaune away with the vague excuse that he was _just like the rest of them_ , the rest of her suitors back at Atlas, the type of suitors that Weiss despised because they only saw her for her name and put on pretentious airs about themselves. If she had just _listened_ and paid attention, then perhaps it would have dawned on her rather quickly that none of her friends, except perhaps Blake at the beginning of their relationship, even cared that much about the Schnee name, Jaune included, and that she was being hasty and judged people on appearance alone – the very same thing she claimed to despise in all her old suitors. For all his faults, Jaune _was_ genuinely trying to get to know her beter. Heck, all of her friends were!

(To think that _Jaune_ , of all people, had to tell Neptune off so he would go to Weiss at the dance! Jaune didn’t even try to swoop in to comfort her like some dust-damned pick-up artist, hoping to prey on her lonely heart! Wasn’t that a rarity? A guy who wasn’t actively toying with someone else’s feelings? It really shouldn’t be praiseworthy, but after every suitor Weiss had had to drive away, it was really refreshing that she knew people like Ren and Jaune who were the complete antithesis of disgusting macho behavior like this!)

That really drove Weiss up a wall. Because really, why _did_ she decide to invite Neptune to the dance, when at the end of the day he was just as much of a dork as Jaune was, except he was better at hiding it and pretending to be more suave than he really was? Did Weiss really fall for yet another Atlas suitor, pretending to be classy and sophisticated to get her attention? Putting it simply, her decision to go after Neptune exposed just how much of a hypocrite she could be, and that was _not_ a pleasant thought to deal with. Gods, she was acting like a dust-damned _teenager_ , and she was _better_ than this!

(Much, much later, Weiss would confide these things to her big sister, the idea that Winter would never had had these kinds of… childish problems, and Winter would laugh long and hard at the hero worship Weiss lavished upon her. A story for another time.)

Meditating on the events of the dance, the talk she had with Neptune deep into the night, when he admitted the whole story and Weiss, stunned, could only nod at how utterly _banal_ Neptune turned out to be, only intensified the headache she was feeling. She caressed Zwei’s fur, hoping to find some comfort with the loyal dog by her side, but Zwei only whimpered and continued to nap, leaving Weiss to her thoughts, forcing her to relive the exact moment that she had told Neptune that while she appreciated that he opened up about her insecurities to her, it was probably better off that they remained friends, because the events of the dance reminded her that she should really be focusing on more important matters (Weiss had to thank Blake for that reminder, ultimately, because at the end of the day, a lot of the teenage drama from the dance didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things), and Weiss was forced to relive the crushed look that Neptune gave her, forcing her to walk away lest she feel bad for the heart she had broken that night. It wasn’t a mistake, Weiss would tell herself, and ultimately, she knew she was in the right, but it didn’t take away the fact that she did hurt Neptune, even if she didn’t mean or want to.

It was a nasty habit, Weiss would admit, something that she and Ren tended to share – the two could admit to each other that they had a tendency to be lost in their own thoughts, to grapple with intense rounds of self-doubt and self-hatred over the mistakes they had made in the past – and unfortunately, there was nobody around to distract her from her mistakes.

 _This is why I hate dealing with people!_ Weiss complained in their head. _Why are emotions so damned_ messy _and_ complicated?

Truly, this was why Weiss preferred dealing with dogs: she didn’t have to worry about hurting Zwei’s feelings, because Zwei was a good boy and was the most loyal friend a girl could ask for. Weiss smiled at that thought, before taking a selfie of her and the sleeping dog. At least this was a good memory she could look back on fondly!

\---0---

_Welcome to **White Rose**!_

_Princess uploaded a photo!_

Dolt: aww look at you and zwei

Dolt: you two look so cute like that

Princess: Of course we are. We are _perfect_ for each other, after all.

Dolt: …still not letting you keep zwei

Princess: Perish the thought.

Princess: …Zwei will choose to be with me of his own choice.

Dolt: speaking of, where are you two anyway? we left the courtyard a while ago

Princess: Oh, you know.

Princess: Just spending some more quality time with Zwei.

Princess: I’ll bring him back to the dorms in a bit – I just needed some time to think.

Princess: How about you and Yang? Surely she’s stopped that infernal racket she calls playing the guitar.

Dolt: yang’s still practicing, i think. i think she dragged nora and pyrrha to be her audience this time, so rip

Dolt: im just hanging out with blake at the common room. she lent me this really cool book!

_Dolt uploaded a photo!_

Princess: _I’m_ surprised Blake agreed to a selfie.

Dolt: i mean, she grunted once and it sounded positive so i figured she was ok w it

Dolt: gonna enjoy some peace and quiet before yang gets back. remind me to kick jaune in the butt for agreeing to try and teach yang, cuz I could barely hear myself think back there

Princess: Honestly, I’m impressed you were able to stand Yang’s impromptu practice session.

Dolt: yeah, well, you know, shes my sister so i gotta deal w it

Dolt: we may not always get along but you gotta learn to live w em, right?

Dolt: sibling stuff is complicated like that

Princess: I… suppose that is true, yes.

_Someone is typing…_

Dolt: jaune blake says that’s not the tuna she wants

Dolt: oops, wrong chat

Princess: Are you talking to Jaune right now?

Dolt: oh, sun decided for some reason that he was gonna liveblog them shopping over at the leader’s group chat, so now coco and I are laughing at the entire thing. [edited]

Dolt: im not really sure why he finds the whole shopping thing so fascinating, really

Princess: Well, I’m glad you’re finally learning proper grammar.

Princess: Although… Coco? Why is she involved in all this?

Dolt: oh, sun blabbed about it in leader chat so coco decided to send fox and yatsuhashi with them since they’re behind on their groceries

Dolt: they’re making a boys’ night out of it apparently

Princess: Why in the world did they decide to turn grocery shopping into boys’ night???

Dolt: iunno, but sun says jaune and ren need some guy time away from us

Princess: What, does Sun think we have cooties or something?

Dolt: no way, even i knew cooties were bs when i was ten

Princess: Are you sure it wasn’t until you were fifteen? :smirk_cat:

Dolt: rude!!!

Princess: In any case, I’m surprised you’re using that leader chat of yours for something like this. Aren’t you friends with an upperclassman in that chat?

Princess: Also, isn’t Cardin in that chat?

Dolt: naw coco made a separate chat with me and jaune because she couldn’t stand being in the same group chat as cardin

Dolt: seriously jaune and i have cardin’s chat muted bc he keeps posting really gross and uncomfortable stuff and nobody really wants to call him out

Princess: How in the _world_ did Sun get added to the chat, then? From what you’ve told me, Coco isn’t very fond of Sun

Dolt: well, jaune begged coco

Dolt: don’t tell anyone this but I think coco has a soft spot for jaune. i think he reminds coco of her brothers

Princess: That’s… surprising.

Princess: Do keep me updated on Jaune and Ren, will you? We supposedly had plans for today, although now that’s shot to hell

Dolt: aight, although im surprised you arent taking advantage of your free time to practice your glyphs

Dolt: didn’t you mention you were still having trouble with that whole summoning thing?

\---0---

 _Leave it to Ruby to just say these things out loud_ , Weiss complained in her head.

Weiss was certainly over the moon at the beginning of the semester, seeing as she had managed to make some headway into her glyph practice, and she was becoming more and more proficient with combining her semblance with her dust once Pyrrha had knocked it into her head that she would be getting nowhere if she stubbornly refused to use the resources that was afforded to her. So what if she used SDC dust, despite her desire to be more independent? Weiss’ pride and ego wasn’t that fragile that it would hurt her that she still needed to rely on daddy’s dust to prove skilled enough in combat. At this point, she would rather grow stronger, using anything at her disposal, before she could even _consider_ trying to go at it without the advantages of being a Schnee.

In retrospect, that first instance of successfully using her Time Dilation in combat, when she used it to help Blake fight off a barrage of missiles during the fight with the prototype Paladin, might have been a fluke, seeing as she had gotten cocky the second time she chose to it. Weiss didn’t like to dwell on her losses, but the disastrous fight she had with that White Fang Lieutenant on the train showed off her inexperience and overconfidence, as well as her tendency to rely on one trick to get her through fights. Sure, the little enhancement the Time Dilation gave her was enough to push past the White Fang Lieutenant’s defenses, but she had severely misjudged the drawbacks of the glyph and had paid for it with losing badly. If it wasn’t for Blake, who knows what might have happened?

(If there was any consolation, it was that Blake was able to win _her_ fight thanks to Weiss lending her some of her dust. Blake didn’t often do that, since she couldn’t really afford a lot of the expensive dust that Weiss had access to, and her trick with her clones and dust only worked with the high quality stuff, so it was perhaps Weiss’ only good tactical move during the events of that mission.)

Be that as it may, the events of that mission to Mount Glenn and the subsequent Breach highlighted that for all of her improvement, Weiss still sorely lacked the battle experience, knowledge, and tools to bring her to victory. She chided herself on her tendency to rely too much on the new trick she had learned, in this case her Time Dilation, and she had resolved to push through with her training, exploring the myriad ways that her semblance could be taken advantage of. It overwhelmed her, sometimes, just thinking of all the potential things she _could_ do with her glyphs, and honestly, she suffered from indecision at times, drowning under the weight of all her options. _What should she focus on_?

The fact was there were too many different experiments she could be doing right now, as well as looking into developing her summoning skills, but when Weiss imagined all the things she could do, she just… _buckled_ under the pressure of it all. The Schnee Family semblance, much like the Schnee name itself, held much _power_ , and for perhaps the first time in her life, Weiss felt inadequate to wielding it.

And really, wasn’t that why she had been antsy the entire day?

It was all excuses, and she knew it. The intellectual side of her knew what it was that she needed to do – train, improve herself, focus – and it was the intellectual side of her that knew that she had no time to focus on romance, and it was the intellectual side of her that knew that Neptune was Bad News. Wasn’t that why she had decided they were better of as friends, and why she was determined not to lead Neptune on and give him the hope that he might have had a chance?

But the emotional side of her, the dust-damned messy emotions that people had to deal with, said otherwise. Because for all that Weiss despised to think about it, a part of her _liked_ that people like Jaune and Neptune fawned over her, and a part of her liked that positive feeling of being loved and cared for instead of dwelling on how _her progress with her training was stalled out_. It was the irrational side of her, the part that didn’t enjoy all the failures and difficulties she encountered during training, despite knowing that she was making progress bit by bit every day, that wanted to spend the day taking care of Zwei and doing silly ASMR videos and spending time with Jaune now that they had finally cleared the air and could become friends again.

(And really, it was _so_ simple, reconciling with the blond – Jaune approaching her, the day after the dance, apologizing for being kind of a pest, and Weiss responding that she too deserved a bit of the blame, and as if by magic, it was as if a month of awkwardness disappeared into the ether, especially after Jaune let it slip out that he was the one running her new favorite Dustube channel! It was almost as if she was overthinking the entire awkward mess!)

At the end of the day, Weiss despised the fact that despite how simple the solution to her problems were, her dust-damned heart had to go and make things so _complicated_. Which was why she had been unable to train by herself this entire week, and instead threw herself into all sorts of other activities. Somehow, some way, she woke up to find herself a hypocrite, because didn’t she reject Neptune because she wanted to avoid these distractions?

No wonder she had been looking forward to today – she was eager to just not _think_ about how much she hated herself at this moment.

Weiss sighed and looked at Zwei. At least Zwei looked like he was at peace. She envied that, really. It must have been nice, living a life as simple as a dog’s!

\---0---

_Welcome to **White Rose**!_

Princess: …there are some difficulties, yes, but I’m sure I will overcome them eventually.

Dolt: oh oof

Dolt: you hit a wall, huh?

Princess: …a wall?

Dolt: yeah

Dolt: my uncle qrow used to tell me that training is weird, bc sometimes we develop skills at a really quickly and sometimes we just don’t feel like we’re improving

Dolt: he says its like running headfirst into a wall, so now you have to put in the effort to scale it

Dolt: in video game terms, its because the xp requirement to level up gets bigger every time, so at some point levelling will slow down

Princess: I have _no_ idea what that means, Ruby.

Dolt: see this is why you should play more video games with me and jaune

Princess: Pass. That sounds like a horrendous waste of time, especially when I could be training instead.

Dolt: aww but like

Dolt: uncle qrow says if you’re stuck, its better to do something else

Dolt: helps you approach things from a different perspective, apparently

Dolt: instead of trying to climb the wall, maybe you can find a door or walk around it or something

Princess: This metaphor is becoming more and more strained at the minute, Ruby.

Dolt: ugh, you know what i mean weiss!

Dolt: it just means you need to switch priorities. maybe ask advice from someone, or change up your routine

Dolt: who knows, maybe you just need to talk to the right person to figure out how to unlock your summoning

Princess: Life isn’t so convenient that a mere talk will allow me to figure out one of the greatest tools in the Schnee family semblance’s arsenal, Ruby!

Dolt: hey, take it from me, you’d be surprised how much it helps to find the right person to talk to. i was complete _garbage_ until uncle qrow took me in!

Dolt: plus, like, look at jaune! he didn’t improve all that much at the start of the school year, but once pyrrha knocked some sense into him he started improving by leaps and bounds

Dolt: sure, part of it is he started from scratch so any improvement will be noticeable, but you’d be surprised how much a change in perspective can help speed up your training!

Princess: …I suppose you have a point.

Princess: Thank you for that, Ruby. I’ll make sure think about what you said.

Dolt: yea well you should

Dolt: im your leader, after all, and i’ve got lots of secret leader knowledge to share with you :smug:

Dolt: oh~ it’s so hard, being the leader~ youre forced to grow up so quickly and learn stuff on your own~

Princess: Oh, ha ha. Don’t let it get to your head!

_Someone is typing…_

Dolt: oh yeah you wanted to be kept up to date about the boys, right?

Dolt: gna add you to the leader chat bc

Princess: …isn’t that chat meant to be for official business?

Dolt: yeah but its mostly for chatting and stuff now. coco’s cool with it too

Dolt: besides, i know you’ve been really bothered all afternoon because your video thing didn’t push through

Princess: …was I that obvious?

Dolt: ofc

Dolt: nothing gets past me, especially when my partner’s troubled and needs help

Dolt: c’mon weiss ill add you

Princess: …alright. Alright. Thank you, Ruby.

\---0---

(Well, this was interesting, Weiss thought, banishing all the gloomy thoughts from her head. Meanwhile, Zwei pawed at his nose, trying to remove an imaginary fly that was bothering him.)

\---0---

_Welcome to **Leader Chat** **(Cool Kids and Jaune Edition)**!_

_Budget Fashionista added **Weiss Schnee** to the chat!_

Budget Fashionista: there, i added weiss coco

Head Fashionista in Charge: mhm

Head Fashionista in Charge: Ruby says you were looking for the walking fashion disaster?

Weiss Schnee: Huh? Who?

Budget Fashionista: she means jaune, weiss

Head Fashionista in Charge: yep

Head Fashionista in Charge: Tall, blond, scraggly, wears really horrific hoodies out in public and thinks he looks good in ‘em?

Budget Fashionista: didn’t you say they were comfy?

Head Fashionista in Charge: well, _yes_ , but you don’t wear comfy out in public

Head Fashionista in Charge: Being fashionable, my dear apprentice, is an _art_. And artists must _suffer_ for their art.

Head Fashionista in Charge: It means dressing up to look _fabulous_ , even if you’re going on a mission to the deserts of Vacuo.

Head Fashionista in Charge: I, for one, will _never_ consider dressing for comfort, even if I end up somewhere like that.

Hoodie Boy: rly don’t think it’s a good idea to walk around the sands of vacuo in heels coco

Head Fashionista in Charge: Oh, Jaune

Head Fashionista in Charge: My poor, useless, idiotic child

Head Fashionista in Charge: One day, you will look back on your wardrobe choices, cringe, and go _damn, why didn’t I listen to the amazing and fabulous Coco Adel_?

Hoodie Boy: p sure ill be asking myself why the amazing coco adel speaks in third person

Head Fashionista in Charge: Coco Adel talks the way she wants, noodle boy, and unless you want to serve as target practice for Gianduja, you will keep your opinions on the way Coco Adel talks to yourself

Hoodie Boy: yes’m

Hoodie Boy: please don’t use me for target practice ma’am

Head Fashionista in Charge: Good boy

Head Fashionista in Charge: Anyway, did you get everything we asked for?

Hoodie Boy: yeah, although and sun and neptune wandered off _again_

Hoodie Boy: ren and I are almost done, we’re gonna meet up w fox and yatsuhashi in half an hour

Budget Fashionista: wow, cant believe all of weiss’ prodding is finally getting to you

Hoodie Boy: nothing wrong with trying to work on my grammar bit by bit, right?

Hoodie Boy: oh wait, weiss is in the chat? what happened

Weiss Schnee: Ruby added me.

Hoodie Boy: oh, uh, neat

Hoodie Boy: sorry its taking me so long to get back, I swear we’ll get on the earliest airbus back

Hoodie Boy: don’t ask how but somehow sun and neptune are slowing things down

Shirtless Disaster: Oh, hey! Weiss is here!

Shirtless Disaster: ‘sup, Weiss?

Hoodie Boy: gdi sun where are you

Shirtless Disaster: Oh, you know, walking around.

Shirtless Disaster: Weiss, get this. I’ve learned _so_ much about girls today!

Hoodie Boy: Huh…?

Shirtless Disaster: Long story short, but TIL what a tampon is!

Weiss Schnee: …what

Hoodie Boy: it’s a long story, ill let ruby and coco tell it.

Hoodie Boy: gotta get neptune to stop hitting on the cashier lady and find ren

Hoodie Boy: **Shirtless Disaster** i told you, i can see those bananas you’re smuggling! i do _not_ want to be arrested for shoplifting

Shirtless Disaster: I swear I’m gonna pay for ‘em!

Weiss Schnee: I am _so_ confused right now. What on Remnant is going on?

Budget Fashionista: id like to know too, and ive sat through most of sun’s narration

Head Fashionista in Charge: Long story short, we learned that Sun and Neptune have no idea how to run a household, or do shopping, or anything else related to these things.

Head Fashionista in Charge: I’m not sure _how_ , but apparently SSSN lives off junk food and take-out from Vale if they aren’t getting food from the cafeteria

Budget Fashionista: don’t get me started on their laundry too

Shirtless Disaster: Hey, we’re a buncha dudes! Us bros would rather rough it than worry about stuff like chores and shopping and stuff!

Budget Fashionista: see this is why yang keeps making fun of you, sun

Shirtless Disaster: Aww, Yang’s just teasin’ me, nbd

Head Fashionista in Charge: In any case, when Sun and Neptune decided to tag along with your boys and ours, they ended up getting lost on the way to the commercial district because Sun kept wandering off, apparently

Weiss Schnee: I feel like I have to object to you calling Jaune and Ren ‘our boys’.

Head Fashionista in Charge: Wait, but I thought Jaune was _really_ into you.

Head Fashionista in Charge: He would not _shut up_ about it for weeks! He was _so_ looking forward to inviting you to the dance and everything!

Head Fashionista in Charge: Speaking of, do you have any pictures of Jaune in the dress? I hear he was rocking it on the dance floor

Weiss Schnee: …no, unfortunately, although I do remember the scene vividly.

Head Fashionista in Charge: Don’t ask me how he knows so much about women’s fashion, but I’ll be damned if I don’t have any blackmail material on him after I went through all the effort to get him that nice dress he asked for

Weiss Schnee: Wait, you got him that dress?

Budget Fashionista: yeah, but originally jaune wanted to send it to his sister in Argus as a gift

Head Fashionista in Charge: Yeah, and he has pretty good taste too. How the heck can you think a hoodie is _fine_ but be so fussy about dresses?

Head Fashionista in Charge: Anyway. Back to the story.

Budget Fashionista: right, so they got delayed on the way to the shops, and then once they got to the markets, sun and neptune apparently just wandered around randomly

Budget Fashionista: turns out they didn’t even prepare a list of stuff to buy or anything

Budget Fashionista: ren ended up making them do a list on the spot

Shirtless Disaster: Oh man, I didn’t know you guys need so much stuff! I usually just end up buying whatever looks nice!

Head Fashionista in Charge: And this is why we’re never letting you boys tag along for one of these things.

Shirtless Disaster: Look, it was a bit of a shock to find out that Jaune and Ren are basically Pyrrha freakin’ Nikos’ personal shoppers, alright? She even lets Jaune handle her credit cards!

Weiss Schnee: Sun, not to state the obvious, but Jaune and Pyrrha _are_ partners, you know.

Shirtless Disaster: Sure, but I didn’t realize Pyrrha makes Jaune buy all this personal stuff for her!

Shirtless Disaster: He even knows Pyrrha’s favorite shampoo and soap and stuff!

Weiss Schnee: …why does this seem so surprising to you?

Shirtless Disaster: Look, I’m just surprised you all don’t mind Jaune and Ren buying your personal stuff for you!

Shirtless: Heck, Ren and Yang share shampoo brands!

Weiss Schnee: …is this what it’s like when you’re on an all-boys team?

Head Fashionista in Charge: iunno, Fox and Yats were never this hung up on this stuff

Budget Fashionista: yeah, plus jaune has like a million sisters and ren grew up w nora, so they arent being weird about this

Budget Fashionista: meanwhile, neptune apparently froze up when they got to the feminine hygiene aisle

Shirtless Disaster: hey, it’s not every day you see freakin’ pyrrha nikos’ face plastered all over the entire aisle!

Budget Fashionista: as it turns out, sun and neptune are _huge_ fans of pyrrha

Shirtless Disaster: look, neptune’s from argus so he’s heard all about her exploits, and how the frick can you _not_ be a fan when you see how cool she is?!

Shirtless Disaster: we’re lucky we got to know her, yknow?

\---0---

(Weiss did her best to ignore how familiar Sun and Neptune sounded, because at the end of the day, when Jaune admitted to her why he was so interested in pursuing a relationship with her, how could she not hear it and think of her own hero worship for Pyrrha?)

\---0---

_Welcome to **Leader Chat (Cool Kids and Jaune Edition)**!_

Weiss Schnee: Wait, Pyrrha is a brand ambassador for…

Head Fashionista in Charge: Tampons and pads, yes.

Head Fashionista in Charge: It is _very_ weird and Pyrrha should drop her manager because of all these questionable sponsors she keeps getting forced to promote

Budget Fashionista: unfortunately, her contract means she has to use ‘em, so jaune usually buys ‘em for her

Budget Fashionista: which caused sun and neptune to freak out, prompting jaune to, well…

Head Fashionista in Charge: I never thought I’d get to see Jaune give The Talk to Sun and Neptune, but here we are

Head Fashionista in Charge: Good thing Sun was recording everything the entire time

Shirtless Disaster: Hey, in my defense, my cousin never taught me this stuff! How am I supposed to know how girls work?

Budget Fashionista: wait til i tell blake abt this she’d be embarrassed to be seen around you

Shirtless Disaster: aw cmon you know me n blake arent like that

Weiss Schnee: “Blake and I.”

Budget Fashionista: blake and i

Budget Fashionista: jinx :stuck_out_tongue:

Head Fashionista in Charge: …monkey boy, you’re talking to a bunch of girls _right now_

Shirtless Disaster: Yeah and my team’s all dudes, gimme a break!

Shirtless Disaster: You think Scarlet has any idea what makes girls tick???

Shirtless Disaster: Look, there’s no shame in admitting that I’m ignorant about some of these things, ok! I can accept that part of myself!

Shirtless Disaster: If I don’t know something, then I’ll ask! That way, I can fill in the gaps in my knowledge

Shirtless Disaster: I have no shame in admitting that up until half an hour ago, I had _no_ idea what a tampon was!

Head Fashionista In Charge: Can you _please_ not phrase it like that, monkey boy?

Weiss Schnee: …that’s a very interesting perspective to have, Sun.

Shirtless: Thanks! Glad you like my words of wisdom! My cousin Starr did her best to teach me all of these things!

Shirtless Disaster: Anyway, jaune’s gesturing at me to get going, so we may be back soon

Shirtless Disaster: Hopefully before dinner, because Velv decided she wanted to make dinner for the team today and she’s determined to make Fox admit her cooking is good

Shirtless Disaster: We’ll do our best, but no promises

_Shirtless Disaster uploaded a photo!_

Budget Fashionista: pffft

Budget Fashionista: why is neptune clinging onto ren

Head Fashionista in Charge: Who knows? Maybe someone opened a water bottle nearby.

_Someone is typing…_

Head Fashionista in Charge: Well, that was a fun distraction.

Head Fashionista in Charge: Nothing like laughing at the boys to get me in the mood for training.

Weiss Schnee: …training?

Head Fashionista in Charge: Yeah, I learned this neat pre-training trick from Yats

Head Fashionista in Charge: He likes to watch funny animal videos before a spar because it helps loosen him up mentally

Head Fashionista in Charge: I, on the other hand, get my kicks laughing at dumb people, so here we are

Budget Fashionista: coco that’s mean to sun and neptune

Head Fashionista in Charge: oh, sun knows im just joking around

Head Fashionista Charge: It’s really useful when I’m stuck trying to work on something, like a new team formation or a new maneuver

Head Fashionista Charge: You see, sometimes overcoming a hurdle means finding alternative paths, not bulldozing your way past obstacles

Head Fashionista Charge: It’s really helpful to get in the right headspace when doing something, because if you keep trying to push yourself when you’re in a bad place, the results won’t be pretty. Trust me on that.

Weiss Schnee: …huh. I’ll…take that into account, Coco.

Head Fashionista in Charge: No problem.

Head Fashionista in Charge: Think of it as secret leader knowledge I’m passing on to you, Weiss

Weiss Schnee: I see.

Weiss Schnee: …by any chance, did you also teach this “secret leader knowledge” to Ruby?

Budget Fashionista: eep

Head Fashionista in Charge: Yeah? Of course I would. Gotta train my apprentice to be almost as good as me, of course.

Weiss Schnee: That’s… very interesting indeed.

Weiss Schnee: Ruby?

Budget Fashionista: yes weiss

Weiss Schnee: What did I tell you about letting the whole leadership thing get to your head?

Budget Fashionista: im not sorry!!!

\---0---

(Leave it to Ruby to try and cheer her up with words of wisdom she nicked from someone else, Weiss laughed to herself.)

By her side, Zwei stirred, letting out a bark to signal his waking up. After a few seconds of stretching on the ground, Zwei turned to Weiss and started running around in circles, his tail wagging incessantly as he seemed to try and get Weiss’ attention. For her part, Weiss could do nothing but let out a soft smile, the heavy feeling in her chest lightening up a little bit. Maybe there _was_ something to her leader friends’ words, because it seemed like all the things she was worrying about the entire day had just… evaporated into thin air.

Heck, Weiss even found herself laughing, despite herself, as she listened to Ruby and Coco recount the shenanigans that the boys got into on their food run. There was something so comforting about the boys doing something so utterly silly and _banal_ like getting the groceries, that forced things into perspective for the heiress. Because really, she had been so hung up on training and improving herself, but didn’t she also choose to go to Beacon to be _free_ of these expectations and pressures?

It was such a small thing, to be able to enjoy time with her friends, a marked difference from the existence she led back in Atlas, and here she was now, reaping the fruits of that effort. The fact that she even had the _opportunity_ to play with a dog with Zwei, or try out something as silly as ASMR with Jaune, or to mess around with Ruby, or listen to Yang play her guitar badly, or laugh at Nora and Pyrrha putting Blake through the paces with a workout… thinking back, the fact that she could enjoy these things was something she would never have considered when she was younger, and the fact that she was getting hung up on these things instead of enjoying what she had was just mind-boggling.

So what if her training had stalled out? She was still getting better, day by day, even if it wasn’t progressing as quickly as she may have wanted, and so what if she wasn’t as focused on her self-improvement as her perfectionism demanded? Ruby, Sun, and Coco’s words reverberated in Weiss’ head, as if to respond to the intellectual voice in her head, telling her that she couldn’t allow herself to be distracted, that she should focus only on the task at hand.

Because Weiss, try as she might, couldn’t _be_ that simple. People, after all, were complicated, messy, and hard to manage. And try as she might, she couldn’t be in the best physical state possible if she didn’t try and manage her emotions better. Sometimes, a change of perspective worked _wonders_ , and maybe the answer wasn’t to obsess on her failures, but to focus elsewhere.

The realization, so utterly _obvious_ in hindsight, felt like the light that broke past the dark, stormy clouds that was her mood, and it felt as if the guilt and the anger she aimed at herself cleared up at that moment. It was as if all her worrying about possibly being hypocritical or allowing herself to be distracted was inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

Already Weiss’ mind was abuzz, her head filled with new glyph and dust combinations that she could attempt the next time she practiced, and she even wondered if she could try and have another go at trying the summoning glyphs. The pressure of the Schnee Family semblance, the pressure of _living up_ to the power and the potential that her Semblance represented, the fear that Weiss felt when she imagined all the work she needed to do to even realize a smallest percent of that power – all of it felt so inconsequential to her now. She just had to _do_ it, and not worry about anything else, like her insecurities, or her perceived hypocrisies, or all the myriad messy emotions that bothered her to no end. Because they were a part of her, and try as she might, she was never going to be free of them, so she may as well learn to accept it, learn to accept that a part of her loved dogs and loved ASMR and loved being fawned on by people and loved getting love and affection from her close, personal friends, as well as a million other things that had nothing to do with improving her combat skills. Weiss Schnee was a complex individual, after all.

(Weiss made a mental note to thank Sun for his words, even if she suspected that he would never understand _why_.)

And right now, a few days after the stressful events of the Breach, and all the other events of the past month, what Weiss needed the most was to be with the people who made her feel good about herself.

 _It’s the end of the week,_ Weiss finally thought to herself, _and I can afford to take a break_.

(Weiss sometimes meditated on how much she and Blake were similar, when you really thought about it.)

Finally finding the strength to move, Weiss motioned to Zwei, who had remained by her side, just like the way Weiss liked it. In response, Zwei barked at Weiss. The two, reenergized by the break that they took, began walking back to the dorms, looking forward to what the remains of the day had to offer.

\---0---

_Welcome to **White Knight**!_

Sir Dork Knight: hey weiss

Sir Dork Knight: _real_ sorry it took us so long

Sir Dork Knight: just gonna drop off the stuff and ill run straight to the recording room, aight? we can meet up there

Ice Queen: Oh, you don’t need to rush. You haven’t had dinner yet, right? We can get dinner before we start practice recording.

Sir Dork Knight: uh, sure, that’s fine, but i thought you were looking forward to this all day

Ice Queen: Well… I thought about it, and I figured I was being very unreasonable with you. You still have practice with Pyrrha tonight, don’t you? you certainly have a full plate today

Ice Queen: We can afford to take a break and take it easy, Jaune. I wouldn’t want you to be distracted by training worrying about me.

Ice Queen: Between training, studies, your responsibilities as leader, and everything else you have to worry about, I wouldn’t want you to buckle under the strain of all of these things.

Ice Queen: If anything, I’m impressed you haven’t just given up, despite being so hopelessly behind the rest of us.

Sir Dork Knight: eh

Sir Dork Knight: i mean, theres always the pressure to get better, sure, but i figure theres no point in moping around, right?

Sir Dork Knight: my mom always used to say i should focus on what i _can_ do, and accept that sometimes ill be down in the dumps or w/e. just gotta learn to live with those feelings, yknow?

Ice Queen: …Blake was right. You really _are_ a :dog:

Sir Dork Knight: aw man, not you too

Sir Dork Knight: anyway, i think our airbus is pretty close to beacon, so ttyl

Sir Dork Knight: meet you at the cafeteria?

Ice Queen: Of course. I’ve not eaten much today, so I’m _starving_.

Sir Dork Knight: well milady, who am i to keep a lady waiting?

Ice Queen: Oh, don’t you start! You don’t sound nearly as cool as you think you do!

Sir Dork Knight: :shrug: worth a shot

\---0---

 _Of course_ Jaune already figured out the thing that Weiss spent most of the day meditating about on his own. Jaune was very much like a dog that way, the way everything just seemed so simple in his head, none of this complicated and messy emotional turmoil that Weiss found herself in often. But, well, Weiss didn’t _hate_ that about him. After all, Weiss was fond of dogs, wasn’t she?.

By the time that Weiss arrived at the cafeteria, Jaune was there, sweat pouring profusely from all over his body, evidence that the doofus ran all the way from the air docks to their dorms to the cafeteria, presumably carrying their groceries all the way. He didn’t _have_ to, but he did. That was Jaune, all right. So much like a dog, coming back after retrieving a frisbee she tossed his way. At least, she could count on him always coming back and always be by their sides.

Jaune, realizing Weiss’ approach, immediately straightened himself and fixed his posture, and with the grace and the poise of someone who had spent most of the day wrangling some very unruly friends of his, uttered:

“I’m back, Weiss.”

And, well, she had to respond to that, didn’t she? She sighed, smiled, and greeted her tall, blond, and not-so-scraggly friend.

“Welcome home, Jaune.”

And just like that, Jaune made his way back to Weiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve reached 100,000 words or so with this chapter. Hooray? That’s pretty neat for what’s supposed to be a chatfic. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any chatfic do what I’m trying to do with this, so I’m glad with what I’ve ended up writing for you all, even if admittedly my fic isn’t going to be that popular compared to others. 
> 
> I’m not one of those do it for the art types, but I do take pride in my craft, and I hope that everyone is enjoying all the care and attention I put into crafting these chapters and making them as good as they possibly can, enjoyable for everyone, as loyal and respectful to the show as possible… if there’s anything you’d like me to improve, or work on to make this fic better or more enjoyable, please tell me in the reviews below. I read each and every single one of them, and trust me, I make sure to take your feedback into account.


End file.
